Share
57.500 €
Settled by the promoter
Solar Kasolwe Cooperative
Kamuli District, Uganda, UG
instalment
monthly
term
5 anos
yearly interest
7%
risk rating
C+
Solar energy for a dairy cooperative in Uganda.
Description
With more than 8 years of experience in the renewable energy sector, the SolarPipo group is a Dutch company aiming to unburden the processes of acquiring and installing solar systems for cooling, water pumps, and other productive uses of dairy cooperatives in Uganda.
The funds raised through this campaign will be used to finance a solar energy project at the Kasolwe Cooperative in Kamuli District, Uganda. The Kasolwe Cooperative was founded in 1968 with 110 members, which owned in total around 130 cows. Currently, it has 400 members (four of these are part of the board) who own in total more than 700 dairy cows, 412 actively producing milk. On top of this, it provides services to over 360 other non-cooperative farmers, who despite not being members enjoy the umbrella and security provided by the cooperative, which helps them sell the milk to the same bulk buyers at a fair price.
The funds raised through this campaign will be used to replace a diesel generator for a 11,88kW solar power plant (reducing diesel consumption to zero) and the acquisition of a battery rack (67,2 kWh). By recurring to clean energy, the current cost of cooling the milk will decrease, making the energy more affordable to cooperative milk producers.
The Impact
Direct:
- No diesel consumption: The switch to solar energy will allow the cooperative to run on clean energy only, eliminating the diesel consumption – a reduction of 3,800 liters a year that will avoid the emission of 10.2 tons of CO2/year.
- Better working conditions: by increasing the lighting around the plant with external safety lights, the cooperative members will have longer operation hours especially loading milk to the buyers’ trucks during late evenings. The installer will install 3 street lighting modules at the facility at no extra cost.
- Greater financial autonomy: the cooperative currently has 400 members and over 360 non-cooperative farmers termed as “out producers”, with a combined labor force of around 1520 people that will be positively affected by this project. Milk producers will get better income as a result of increased reliability in storage and supply knowing milk won’t go bad and fetching a better price with milk processors.
- More gender equality: the cooperative plans to bring on women to leadership positions and has set itself a target of the gender balance of at least 40% of the core management positions being taken up by women by 2023.
- Job generation: It is projected that with this solar cooling project, the cooperative operation hours will be increased and so will the volume of milk which will create extra job positions. In the long term, this will spur it to micro processing of the milk to make products like yogurt which will create over 800 direct and indirect jobs at the farms, shops, and processing plant.
- Impact on the local community: with the increase in job creation, stable supply of milk, there will be a trickledown effect on the local community whether it is tackling malnutrition or education access with parents now better equipped to pay for school fees.
- Reduction of the milk waste: Estimates point to 10% of all milk production in Kasolwe being wasted due to lack of timely cooling. Solar coolers are reliable and can provide consistent cold storage for areas with no or unreliable energy access, offering significant impact potential on reduction of the milk waste to minimal levels.
An estimated 37% of Uganda’s population lives under the poverty threshold of US$1.90 a day. Nevertheless, it is the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa. This project will improve the living conditions of the population served by the cooperative.
Impact Indicators
10,2 t
CO2 avoided per year
1.520
people impacted
800
jobs created
Contribution to the Sustainable
Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goals
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Financial viability
P&E Ltd. is a Ugandan subsidiary of the project promoter, SolarPipo Finance B.V. The company will receive a fee to install the equipment and ensure the project funding. It will also provide services throughout the project’s lifetime (5 years): customer support, training, maintenance, technical assistance, and optimization of the equipment usage, based on gathered consumption data.
The average cooperative in Uganda would need an investment of 75.000 € (for equipment and loan costs) for such a project. This loan, in Ugandan Shillings (UGX), will be paid back in 5 years at a cost of 912 € a month and a lump sum of 5.343€ every 6 months, a very acceptable price for the farmers, given their current expenditure on diesel and maintenance.
The Cooperative currently has a monthly gross profit of 9,784.88€. Diesel costs account for 12% of their costs (505.95€). On top of this, after a few months of stable PV supply, the Cooperative will raise some money from selling the diesel generator.
All combined, the farmers have 412 cows actively producing milk. A dairy cow produces on average 4 liters of milk per day meaning that around 1.650 litters can be collected in a day, depending on the season. The Cooperative collects the milk from all its members, as well as some non-members and it provides collective marketing services.
Download Key Investment Information Sheet
Guarantees
This project has no guarantees. Nevertheless, the company's shareholder provided a Comfort Letter.
The Promoter
About SolarPipo Finance B.V.
Founded in 2017, SolarPipo BV is a Dutch holding company, based in Amsterdam. Its shareholders are Ugandan nationals and two Dutch companies - Rockstart BV and Beehaeve. To better deal with all the funding aspects of the group, the holding company created SolarPipo Finance BV, which in turn owns 100% of SolarPipo Finance Limited in Uganda. The latter contracts directly with the dairy cooperatives.
SolarPipo’s main goal is to ease access to renewable energy for the country’s dairy sector. The company provides its customers, typically dairy cooperatives and farmers, access to a cost-effective and reliable alternative to the grid or diesel generators. Their services answer to the whole sector’s value chain: from the financing to the solar system design and installation; to the technical assistance and system maintenance.
The SolarPipo team, currently composed of seven people, has a combined experience of over 8 years in the renewable energy sector, product development and management, sales and marketing, team-building skills. Its core has been at the helm of management of startups with a keen eye on innovation.
SolarPipo Finance BV was founded in April 2020. The majority of the shares belong to its Dutch shareholders, with a combined 60 years of experience with Rockstart having the most relevant experience in smart energy ventures and startups.
Dairy farmers’ cooperatives are a growing and very important business sector (10% of the economy) combined with the milk processing industries and transport needed to bring the cooled milk from the farms to the processors. Usually, the milk coolers use sizeable diesel generators for energy. SolarPipo has identified a list of 7 dairy farmers who cannot wait to stop using diesel generators consuming vast amounts of diesel (which can grow easily to significantly higher numbers). Also, there are at least 100 cooperatives on the list of potential customers but also numerous other parties in the dairy sector value chain.
The team
Hashim Mutanje
Mwamed Sizoomu
Flip Goudsmit
Erik Luttjehuizen
Dianah Namwanje
Nabwire Dorah
Leslie Murungi
Business Model
The dairy industry in Uganda is one of the most promising in Africa. Increasing regional demand for dairy products means strong growth potential. The low productivity in many African countries, e.g. Nigeria, Ghana & Tanzania, has resulted in major imports from the EU and therefore increased potential for Uganda to serve regional demand. 20-40% of all milk production in Uganda is wasted due to a lack of timely cooling. Solar cooling technologies can provide consistent cold storage for areas with no or unreliable energy access, offering significant impact potential.
SolarPipo’s business model is based on sharing the benefits of solar systems with its customers (mainly dairy cooperatives). Without any need for investment from the end client, the promoter replaces diesel generators with solar power plants/batterie, owning the equipment during the first 5 years.
The switch to solar energy allows the cooperatives to reduce costs throughout the lifetime of the solar power plants (usually 15 to 20 years). The saved costs are then used to pay for the loan made to purchase the solar installations. The loan interest and the service fees are aligned with local practices, providing enough margin for a reasonable return on the investments made. Besides ensuring funding for the projects and handling the installation of the equipment, SolarPipo remains a close partner to the cooperatives during the first 5 years, answering customer questions, further optimizing the total installation, correcting faults, and optimizing usage with the gathered data. The volume of available projects in Uganda is large, making the growth potential high.
The target dairy farmers are a selection of over 130 Cooperative in the southwestern region of Uganda with an average size that ranges between 200-500 Cows. In the future, the company is planning on providing water pumps in the future following the same model.
SolarPipo believes in the power of alternative lending to extend access to funding for energy projects in Africa.
Active since
2020
Fiscal country
NL
Operating In
Uganda
Industry
Energy
Number of Goparity Loans
6
Women Shareholders
No
Website
https://www.solarpipo.com/Updates
2024-08-19
Project stories after implementation
This project was settled by the promoter SolarPipo in 2022 for all its Goparity investors, but its outcomes and impact are still present in the cooperatives and their communities.
In total, the campaigns to fund the solar energy installation at six dairy cooperatives in rural Uganda have avoided the consumption of 30.000 litres diesel per year, which was used to run the generators needed to cool the production. This avoids the emission of 84 tonnes of CO2 per year into the atmosphere by replacing diesel fuel with renewable energy.
The projects also had important indirect impact in providing lighting for the area, which enables safer leisure and work activities around the solar plant, and increasing the cooperatives operation time, maintaining over 4.300 jobs at the farms, shops and processing plants, while reducing food waste caused by unstable energy supply.
You can see more of that impact in a video highlighting the projects’ stories, including new images from the promoter and the cooperatives.
2022-09-22
Project End
This project has successfully reached its payments plan maturity. All investors have received their full capital invested and interest. Nevertheless, its impact will keep growing for many more years!
2022-04-28
Loan restructuring
This loan has been restructured as following: introduction of 36 months extension to the project term.
2021-05-22
First payment
First instalment was paid to all the investors
2021-04-21
100% funded
319 investors successfully raised 57.500€
2021-04-06
Open for investment
This campaign is open for investment
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