In the ever-growing realm of renewable energy, private investors have not yet been able to take part in what has been dubbed Dubai’s solar revolution. Renewable energy targets have been steadily increasing from 5% all the way to 75%, in line with the incredible success stories shared across the Emirates. However, these successes have only been tapped by institutional investors and not the individuals that still look at the industry with an overarched eyebrow.
Dubai Carbon, a leading think tank in environmental economics, is considered a market enabler for carbon emission reduction schemes. As such, they have been working with leading energy advisory firms and fin-tech start-ups to identify how to fill the gap and facilitate access to private investors in the lucrative solar industry. Building upon the Safaqat initiative, Dubai Carbon and Innogy International Middle East, a leading company in the Smart Living transformation and thought leader in the application of Blockchain in the energy industry, are building the first blockchain based crowd investment platform that would allow anyone to participate regardless of investment liquidity. The platform would de-facto allow anyone to invest anything, from a few dirhams to several millions, and generate a sustainable investment on projects with a 20 year life span.
Ivano Iannelli, CEO of Dubai Carbon stated: “Thinking ahead, this platform is a proverbial win-win; I’m not only investing in a quality verified project with a blue-chip clientele, but I’m also creating a future for my children”.
“The platform is leveraging the opportunity created under Shams Dubai for companies to avail of rooftop solar for their own energy requirements and therefore provide the investment community with low-risk steady revenue benchmarked at 7% annually for 20 years, and all the socio-environmental benefits of green initiatives,” he continued.
The platform, currently under development, and the exact launch date will be communicated to the public soon. However, under the ‘www.safaqat.ae’ portal, individuals can register their interest and be immediately notified of the opportunities.
Pierre Samaties, CEO of Innogy International Middle East, stated that: “The usage of block chain technology will revolutionise and accelerate the deployment of renewable energy. It allows for the democratisation of green investment, allowing everyone to participate in funding green Investment and contributing to a secure future.”
The Safaqat crowd investment platform will also utilize block chain to implement a new system of smart contract management. This feature will automate and streamline the contracts managed under distributed rooftop solar that are expected to span across 20 year cycles to ensure the investor is safeguarded and all transactions are implemented in state of the art architecture.
‘www.safaqat.ae’ is currently live and provides solar rooftop kits leveraging the collective power of crowdfunding and the vision of the Hatta Development Project to retrofit 640 villas with solar. The crowd investment is currently accepting expressions of interests.