Fintech meets sustainability as new-age entrepreneurs bet on green energy

The fast growth of green energy capacity in the country is attracting new-age entrepreneurs to develop business ideas to tap a generation which is ready to go green. These platforms are offering retail investors options to invest in green energy, electric mobility and affore¬station without the expense of setting up a physical unit. Entrepreneurs are trying to lure investors to such platforms with monthly returns, carbon credits and even discounts on electricity bills.

Based in Bengaluru, Mathew Samuel came up with the idea of SundayGrids, which targets GenZ, who want to invest in green energy but don't have a perm¬anent address to set up something like a solar roof top.

“We thought that why should investment in solar be restricted to the fact that you should have your own house or real estate to put it up," said Samuel.

Samuel, along with two of his co-founders — Naseer Sathyala and Tarun Joseph — started SundayGrids that lets you subscribe to digital solar. Here, you can get solar credits that can be used to offset against your electricity bills.

In December 2020, the company set up its pilot 5 kw solar roof-top system through a commercial solar project developer. Solar credits are generated when the power from the system is sold to hosts on whose roof the system is installed at. 

These credits are sent to your SundayGrids wallet where you can link your utility. By September 2021, the project was fully subscribed by consumers. For using these solar credits against the electricity bill, SundayGrids integrated its credit system with Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).
 

“BBPS has tied up with more than 80 power distribution companies (discoms) in the country for electricity bill payment. As we have integrated with BBPS, our credit is available via online payment modes for these discoms. Whatever is the amount of credit earned from biscuits, it gets deducted from the final electricity bill,” Matthew added.

A purchase of 500 biscuits leads to approximately 20 per cent reduction in the electricity bill of a consumer. Backed by Social Alpha and IIM-Bangalore’s NSRCEL, SundayGrids recently closed its first seed round of Rs 2.8 crore from RainMatters, a foundation set up by Zerodha founders.

The idea to digitise solar is also catching up with existing players also entering the fray. Artha Energy Reso¬urces, a renewable energy consultancy company, recently launched Rene-wShare, an online investment platform for renewable energy assets. It allows retail investors to buy fractional ownership in solar or wind power assets and earn up to 11-12 per cent returns.

Animesh Damani, managing partner at Artha and CEO, RenewShare, calls it “democratisation of renewable energy.”

“This is the first fintech platform that will see high net worth individuals (HNIs) investing in renewable energy assets. The platform already has assets worth Rs 7 crore and commitments worth Rs 10 crore,” Damani said.

The model has a larger scope across the green energy supply chain and sust¬ainable business solutions. Bengaluru-based Pyse not only offers investment opportunities in traditional solar-power projects, but also in electric vehicles, battery storage and afforestation.

Kaustubh Padakannaya, co-founder, Pyse, said the company finds sustainable projects, which are then formed into an SPV. It then signs a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the project host. Thereafter, retail investors are offered to hold a share. “We guarantee a 9-12 per cent return for the solar-power projects. We target residential complexes and large industrial set-ups for hosting the power project. The company has done projects with Tata Communications and DMart,” Padakannaya added.

In a similar fashion, it also offers investors to ‘finance’ electric scooters, batteries, charging stations or a fraction of it and earn both returns and offset their carbon footprint. Pyse also offers afforestation projects for investment. Through its website, the consumer can track their investment portfolio and the social, environment impact of their investments.

The entrepreneurs believe that with options now readily available with just one click, sustainable investment could garner larger interest leading to increase in their scope of business.

Padakannaya said, “If someone is unable to take up sustainability measures on their own, they should be able to invest in such projects or solutions, helping in overall carbon footprint reduction.”