Sun Exchange recently launched a project that allows members to significantly deepen the socioeconomic impact of their purchase by buying solar cells in a crowdsale for Buhle Farmers’ Academy. However, this investment would be 100% altruistic, as all solar-powered earnings go to the nonprofit to maximise their savings on electricity costs. 

Liesl Carolus (39), a visually impaired woman, uses a digital magnifier to help her read at the Cape Town Society for the Blind on 14 July 2022. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

Sanele Mkangelwa works a loom during loadshedding at Cape Town Society for the Blind in Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa on 5 July 2022. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

Most solar cell purchases to date have been made by individuals looking to support this food security cause.

The project is expected to realise cost savings of 40% to 70%, which will allow the academy to focus on the work it does to advance food security, improve jobs and reduce poverty. 

Zamo Shongwe, executive director of the Buhle Farmers’ Academy, says the project will also address the energy crisis, which has had a devastating impact on smallholder farms across the country.

The academy has trained more than 7,000 emerging farmers, half of whom were women and 65% were youth. In 2021, the programme’s farmer support officers mentored 203 new Buhle Academy farmers whose average monthly income was more than R20,000 each. 

These farmers produced 90,000 cabbages per farm, 154,250 eggs, 767 cattle, 303 sheep, 290 goats, 207 pigs and 962 hectares of grains during the course of 2021.   

“For high social impact projects such as Buhle, we ideally want to maximise savings, especially considering that electricity tariffs in South Africa have increased by 653% the past five years, while inflation over this period was 129%,” says Saul Wainwright, managing director for Sun Exchange. 

“This has placed an enormous burden on non-profits, and the most significant way we all can help is by cutting their electricity bills right down, reducing overheads so they can focus on their core social good and sustainability missions.” 

Workers in the workshop at the Cape Town Society for the Blind including Colin Willemse and Andre Timotheus in Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa on 5 July 2022. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

Colin Willemse weaves a basket during loadshedding at Cape Town Society for the Blind in Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa on 5 July 2022. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

In Buhle’s case, they will pay only a very low rate for the electricity generated by the system in order to allow Sun Exchange to run the plant sustainably, and to maintain and insure it.

In a second initiative, reinsurance company Hannover Re South Africa made a R1-million donation towards a solar installation project to be used by the nonprofit Cape Town Society for the Blind. The organisation hosts low-vision clinics in underserviced areas and assists those with poor vision.  

Cape Town Society for the Blind’s income stream is self-funded through the sale of products manufactured by blind and visually impaired artisans, sold from their onsite shop. Reliable electricity also means that training facilities, computer labs and the low-vision clinic can continue operating during power cuts.

Installation of the 53.28 kilowatts solar project has started already, and the crowdsale is almost 70% complete. 

However, unlike the Buhle Academy project, individuals purchasing solar cells for the Cape Town Society for the Blind project will earn an income on the cells they buy. Each solar cell is priced at R77 and there are still 4,313 cells available. BM/DM