Jaltech, one of South Africa’s largest commercial solar owners, is targeting more than R500 million in acquisitions of existing solar and battery systems within the next six months. This allows solar owners to sell their systems, with Jaltech then optimising the system to increase energy savings for the original owner. Until now, system owners had no choice but to hold onto their solar system.
During the load shedding crisis, thousands of South African businesses rushed into buying solar and battery systems to keep their lights on. They were less concerned about energy costs and focused on securing supply, investing tens of billions of rand in rooftop and ground-mount systems.
Now that load shedding has eased, and electricity costs are the focus, many of those owners are left with systems never designed to minimise their power bills. Jaltech is creating a secondary market for system owners to sell their systems and, in return, optimise them to generate significant savings.
“Owners have had no way to release the capital tied up in these systems, and no one with the capability or capital to get more out of them,” says Jonty Sacks, partner at Jaltech.
“We’ve built the technical team and funding capacity to acquire and optimise these systems at scale, so owners can sell with confidence and still benefit from lower electricity costs.”
How optimisation works
Jaltech’s in-house engineering team assesses each site’s actual consumption profile and redesigns the system around it, typically adding battery storage and additional panels, and managing how the system is used. By reconfiguring systems, Jaltech can supply electricity at a lower rate than the owner originally achieved, creating additional savings and freeing up capital invested in the system.
Asset owners then sign a power purchase agreement with Jaltech, locking in a lower tariff that is more competitive than Eskom’s tariffs.
“We’ve been on an acquisition drive for several years and have built one of the largest in-house solar technical teams in the country to undertake acquisitions at scale. We have already acquired and refinanced hundreds of solar assets across the country and, in doing so, have saved companies millions in electricity costs while giving the original owners a clean exit,” adds Sacks.
“Along with our track record, solar suppliers and solar installer partners, we are well positioned as the natural acquirer for existing solar systems valued at R1 million or more.”
Jaltech’s acquisition scope is broad, spanning rooftop and ground-mount systems installed at manufacturing facilities, retail properties, agricultural operations, sectional title and body corporate managed properties, mining sites, and more.
