Dear Sun Exchange Community,
The recent announcement about the final sale of our solar project portfolio to Jaltech and the distribution of settlements to solar cell owners has understandably raised some questions. While we’ve been in touch with many of you to address your questions directly, we also want to discuss some of the most common questions here to ensure you have the information you need during this transition.
We’re committed to continuing to provide the best possible support throughout this process. We appreciate your ongoing patience and understanding. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any other questions or concerns. We’re here to help.
Best regards,
The Sun Exchange Team
Why did you sell my solar assets?
As you’ve heard from us previously, the difficult decision to sell the solar assets was reached after thorough deliberation and careful consideration of all possible outcomes. The primary goal of Sun Exchange and the Trust throughout this process has always been to act in the best interest of our solar cell owners and to mitigate potential future losses.
If you have not done so already, please be sure to read our previous blog post for a deeper dive into the process that led to the decision and the different options we explored.
I got back less than what I spent on my solar cells. Why?
To answer this question, it’s important to clarify the complexities of how solar power projects are valued.
A solar plant is not valued on how much it originally cost to build. Instead, at a high level, it’s valued based on projections for its future cash flows (how much money the plant is expected to make in the future), adjusted to the net present value. Those projections consider these key factors:
- Future Generation Capacity: This is how much energy the plant will likely produce going forward. For a plant that’s already up and running, this involves reviewing its past performance and forecasts, taking into account things like wear and tear.
- Payment Agreements: How much the energy consumer pays for the electricity and how the rates will escalate.
The final price also factors other material considerations such as credit risk of the offtaker, O&M costs and technical issues.
Why didn’t I get a say in whether I wanted to sell my solar cells?
The decision to sell the solar projects was made by the Sun Exchange Bewind Trust, the counterparty named in the cell owner agreements of all the projects that have been sold. The Trust has a fiduciary duty to represent the best interests of all Sun Exchange solar cell owners.
The Trust arrived at the decision after analysing several potential scenarios and determining that a sale of the solar assets would offer the best value to solar cell owners and mitigate future losses. Keeping the solar projects in the Trust for the duration of the leases could have resulted in a complete or near total loss for beneficiaries (solar cell owners) in light of escalating costs for the Trust due to new regulatory requirements amid South Africa’s greylisting. It was a difficult decision to make, but unequivocally made with the best interest of solar cell owners in mind.
What do I need to do to cash out my settlement payment?
Can I convert my ZAR settlement into BTC?
Yes, anyone can choose to convert their ZAR settlement balance to BTC. Please follow the process below:
- Log on to your Sun Exchange dashboard
- Navigate to the My Wallets’ tab and scroll down to the ‘ZAR payouts in BTC’ section
- Click on the ‘Schedule a ZAR payout in BTC’ button. This will schedule a transfer of your ZAR balance to your BTC wallet.
- These requests are processed in batches on Mondays. You will receive an email with the exchange details once your request has been processed.
Please note that your KYC needs to be up-to-date in order to transfer your ZAR balance to your BTC wallet or to request a cash out. Go to My Profile → KYC → Verify Identity and complete the steps. If you have never completed a full ID verification with Sun Exchange you are required to do so.
If you run into any challenges with retrieving your settlement or have any other questions please reach out to our customer support team at hello@sunexchange.com.
