FOUR of South Africa’s most promising clean energy start-ups are hoping for the best after spending last week pitching their products to investors from the City of London, the UK’s financial centre.
BSF Breeding, Everlectric, Hohm Energy and Wetility showcased their innovative low-carbon energy projects that are contributing to building growth and reducing carbon emissions in a range of sectors.
These include farming, transport and sustainable housing while helping South African consumers and businesses to find an alternative, reliable low-carbon energy supply in a cost-effective way.
Each of these four firms that were in London received support through the UK government’s £11.8 million Climate Finance Accelerator programme, which works to develop a sustainable pipeline of investment-ready, low-carbon projects.
The programme is part of the UK’s efforts to support climate action on a global scale, facilitating access to finance and helping governments achieve climate targets under the Paris Agreement.
The high-profile investor event, which included businesses from Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan and Turkey, involved leading financiers and investors, project developers, climate finance experts, the private sector and the UK government discussing the opportunities and challenges faced in securing and mobilising capital for low carbon initiatives at scale in emerging markets.
Each of the businesses received two days of technical advice and support from City of London investors before making a pitch on the last day.
The event offered an opportunity to the companies to present their projects to global markets and access funding from investors to further grow their businesses.
Over the last two years the CFA programme has supported nearly 100 innovative low-carbon projects around the world that have a total value of over $2 billion, helping them to build proposals for investment.
In South Africa the programme has supported 28 projects.
A new round will be started in the next few months with the aim of permanently embedding the programme into the South African climate finance landscape.
BSF Breeding provides black soldier fly larvae that can be grown by anybody and used to produce processed organic waste (including human waste) and turn it into products such as protein additives in animal feed, offering an inexpensive, clean and sustainable food source for livestock.
Black soldier fly can also be used to produce insect oil, biodiesel and soil enhancer. Established in 2015, the BSF Breeding’s larvae are now shipped around the world from its headquarters in Cape Town.
‘We believe BSF protein is the most environmentally-friendly produced animal protein in the world, making use of organic by-products [waste] to feed the larvae with minimal CO2 emissions in our operations,’ said Gerhard Gous, BSF Commercial Director
Everlectric, based in Pretoria, offers electric vehicle packages for businesses made up of leading international electric vehicles, charging infrastructure and innovative finance solutions.
Its all-inclusive service incorporates fuel and maintenance costs and makes it easier for businesses to transition from a petrol or diesel fleet of vehicles to an electric vehicle fleet.
‘We are excited to meet like-minded growth partners who can act as catalysts in our journey to lead the South African logistics industry’s transition to environmentally-responsible, operationally-efficient and commercially-attractive electric vehicles,’ said Ndia Magadagela, Co-founder and CEO of the company.
Johannesburg-based Hohm Energy is a solar rooftop marketplace that manages and streamlines solar installers, product suppliers and financiers to make going solar simple for homeowners and businesses.
The company’s CEO, Tim Ohlsen, said: ‘Hohm Energy’s mission is to accelerate the uptake of solar rooftop PV through our innovative fin-tech lending solution.
‘Our climate tech platform is paving the way towards a greener future, and I am excited to see the positive impact it will have on our country, especially during this period of our energy crisis.’
Wetility, based in Johannesburg, is a smart energy provider that offers a battery-based system that stores solar energy, paired with a digital platform to allow customers to monitor their energy use.
It offers customers affordable monthly payments and a flexible financing model, making the move to solar more affordable.
Vincent Maposa, Wetility’s CEO, said: ‘By harnessing the power of the sun, Wetility is committed to providing energy independence to everyone, affordably, while reducing household CO2 emissions.’
The CFA operates in nine countries – Colombia, Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, Turkey and Viet Nam – and is working to develop a sustainable pipeline of bankable, low carbon projects in each country.