Unergy, a Latin American CleanTech and FinTech specializing in the financing of high-performance renewable energy production assets, announces the opening of its first subsidiary in Europe to strengthen its positions in the French, British, Spanish, Dutch and Swiss markets. The start-up is seeking to reach out to private and individual investors, with the promise of a low-risk investment capable of guaranteeing an internal rate of return (IRR) of at least 7% per year.

With the ambition to facilitate the financing of renewable energies in countries with the right natural conditions but lacking liquidity, Unergy has set up an innovative model of mini-solar farms, accompanied by a high-profitability and low-risk financial protocol to raise the capital needed for their construction and operation.

Thanks to a platform combining Blockchain and artificial intelligence, Unergy splits up assets to enable anyone to become an investor with a stake as low as 500 USD, while monitoring their performance in real time and with complete transparency.

Behind the scenes of a promising, low-risk, high-return financial model
	While crowdfunding for renewable energies has been strongly developing over the past ten years and is now booming in Europe, Unergy’s proposal is something special: the start-up is able to guarantee an unrivalled profitability of between 7% and 10% per year, where European players show 7% in 5 years.
To achieve this, Unergy combines 5 key elements in its model:
–          Climatic conditions: Each mini-farm is strategically located in areas with the highest levels of solar radiation, especially in the Equatorial regions of Latin America with a photovoltaic potential of nearly 1,800 kWh/kWp.   –          The characteristics of the land: Each mini-farm is built on a standard area of 2 hectares with an inclination not exceeding 10 degrees. The parcels are systematically located in countries with large proportions of unexploited land, accessible via existing land infrastructure, and with purchase or rental prices dictated by the potential for agricultural exploitation. The panels are also placed 2 meters above the ground, enabling solar production to be combined with agricultural activities such as the farming of legumes or the breeding of small livestock.   –          Regulatory stability in target countries: Unergy’s mini-farms are established in countries that benefit from a stable regulatory framework in terms of energy, allowing electricity sales and distribution prices to be set on 20- or 30-year contracts and providing for indexation on inflation.   –          Regions with significant financing needs: The countries chosen by Unergy have experienced sustained economic development over the past 20 years, offering a stable framework for business. However, they have significant shortcomings in terms of liquidity, which hinders local institutional actors in the deployment of substantial sustainable infrastructure in the short and medium term.   –          A patented system of mobile solar panels: The icing on the cake! In order to make the most of the chosen climatic and geographical conditions, Unergy’s mini-farms are equipped with a patented system of mobile solar panels that follow the path of the sun to capture maximum radiation. This device increases the production capacity of Unergy’s solar panels up to 25% compared to a conventional fixed panel.
Together, all these conditions enable Unergy to optimize the production capacity of its mini-farms, to control the costs related to operation and maintenance, including insurance, and to anticipate their minimum yield over a period of 20 to 30 years. This allows the company to deliver on the promise of exceptional profitability at low risk.
“We know that Europe has many crowdfunding projects for renewable energy and we do not intend to compete with them. What we want is to provide a new alternative where everyone can find their interest!” Eduardo Ospina, CEO, co-founder of Unergy, and one of the leaders of Innovation Under 35 at MIT. “The energy transition must take place all over the world, but unfortunately not all countries have the same means to finance it. To address this issue, we have designed a model capable of appealing to investors, that offers both guarantees and attractive profitability, and impacting both the planet and the populations of the countries where our projects are located,” he continues.
The start-up currently has a portfolio of more than 50 mini-farm projects to finance, located mainly in Colombia and Brazil, and plans to reach 300 projects by 2024. Each project requires an initial investment of about 1 million US dollars (930 thousand euros) and brings in, through the sale of energy, between 150,000 USD and 180,000 USD in net profits per year.