The Latin American-origin cleantech and fintech Unergy, which specializes in financing high-performance renewable energy asset generation, announced that it would open its first branch in Europe to strengthen its presence in the markets of Spain, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
The startup aims to approach private and individual investors, offering a low-risk investment with a guaranteed 7% annual Internal Rate of Return (IRR).
To facilitate financing for renewable energies in countries with good natural conditions but limited liquidity, Unergy implemented a model of mini-solar farms backed by a high-yield and low-risk financial protocol to gather the capital needed for their construction and operation.
Through a platform combining Blockchain and artificial intelligence, Unergy fragments the assets to allow anyone to become an investor with a minimum of USD$500 and access to transparent and real-time performance monitoring.
Although crowdfunding for renewable energies has experienced substantial growth in the last 10 years in Europe, Unergy’s proposal stands out by guaranteeing a return of between 7% and 10% annually, while other European actors offer 7% over five years.
To achieve this, Unergy integrates five vital elements into its model:
–Strategic climatic conditions: places its mini-farms in areas with high levels of solar radiation, mainly in equatorial regions of Latin America with photovoltaic potential close to 1,800 kWh/kWp.
–Land characteristics: constructs the mini-farms on standard two-hectare lands with a slope not exceeding 10 degrees, selected in countries with extensive underutilized lands, accessible through existing infrastructure, and priced for agricultural use.
–Regulatory stability in selected countries: establishes its mini-farms in countries with a stable energy regulatory framework that allows long-term contracts for the sale and distribution of electricity, indexed to inflation.
–Regions with significant financing needs: Choose countries with sustained economic development over the last two decades but with a considerable scarcity of liquidity, preventing local actors from deploying sustainable infrastructure in the short and medium term.
–Patented mobile solar panel system: utilizes a patented mobile solar panel system that follows the sun’s path to capture maximum radiation, increasing production capacity by 25% compared to conventional fixed panels.
Together, these conditions allow Unergy to optimize the production of its mini-farms, control operational and maintenance costs, including insurance, and anticipate their minimum performance over 20 to 30 years.
Thanks to this, the company fulfills the promise of exceptional profitability with low risk.
The startup has a current portfolio to finance more than 50 mini-farm projects, mainly in Colombia and Brazil, and it is expected to be 300 by 2024.
Each project requires an initial investment of approximately USD$1 million (EUR$930,000) and generates between USD$150,000 and USD$180,000 in net profits per year through the sale of energy.
According to information from the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), approximately a quarter of the primary energy matrix in Latin America and the Caribbean comes from renewable sources.
Regarding electricity generation, around 59% originates from these sustainable sources, and the goal is to raise this percentage to 70% by 2030.
