South Africa’s first fintech solar marketplace enables…
South Africa’s burgeoning solar industry is currently experiencing a gold rush as solar installers and product suppliers alike rush to service pent-up demand from homeowners desperate to install solar panels to sustain their lifestyles. But to meet this growing appetite, some serious challenges must first be overcome in order to serve demand effectively and help South Africans through what has been the worst year of load shedding to date.
This graph published by EskomsePush shows that in September this year we had already experienced a total of 1637 hours of load shedding, after 4 years of an increasing trend of load shedding. Considering that in 2021 1,153 hours were put in, it is clear that this upward trend is accelerating. This trend is estimated to continue in the medium term, leading to a doubling of load reduction over the next 5 years. The main reason is the 5 oldest coal plants coming offline during this time, with relatively little generating capacity coming online to replace what is leaving.
Ga solar energy offer for your home in less than 3 minutes here.
It is clear that Eskom can no longer rely on stable electricity, leaving home and business owners little choice but to seek alternative options to meet their energy needs. One of the most practical and affordable options is to replace Eskom’s supply with energy provided by the sun, by getting a solar battery installation.
Each solar battery system installation is an engineering project that must take into account the unique nuances of the respective home. Solar installers are inundated with requests for proposals and cost estimates that require detailed engineering designs to simulate the homeowner’s unique solar savings forecast, costs and economics. Generating an accurate and reliable solar proposal takes time, and with an increase in national demand for these proposals, this is quickly becoming an administrative nightmare.
Enter Hohm Energy, a fintech solar marketplace purpose-built to efficiently scale such demand and generate accurate and detailed proposals for its customers, both solar installers and homeowners. Tim Ohlsen, CEO of Hohm Energy, explains how this works to benefit the market: “Hohm is a software company that has built a marketplace and platform to enable the South African solar industry to scale, while providing a convenient and reliable service experience for everyone. Hohm’s software uses a homeowner’s unique design parameters of geo-location, orientation, and roof angle to generate a customized solar proposal in less than 5 minutes. From there, we offer a turnkey solution—namely, sales, customer management, distribution functions, and workflows—to help our onboard solar installers to grow their business by servicing solar inquiries and structuring solar financing”.
Going solar is hugely beneficial, but is not without cost, and accessing the right financing can also come as a challenge with limited, if any, options for homeowners to finance their solar battery system outside of using their available equity in the bonds. Nedbank has recently partnered with Hohm Energy to provide a trusted marketplace for homeowners and solar installers to shop across South Africa. MFC, a division of Nedbank, has launched a new, innovative stand-alone solar financing product similar to that for motor vehicle financing. This has enabled MFC to offer homeowners practical solar financing, even if they do not have a bond or bank with Nedbank. Hohm’s marketplace and software platform enables all the coordination of serving homeowners through the journey and matching them with approved solar installers across SA. “Hohm Energy has emerged as an innovator paving the way for a true solar aggregator model that uses software technology to streamline all stakeholders in a solar project. Nedbank is delighted to partner with Hohm Energy as a one-stop-shop serving both homeowners and solar installers to bring more confidence and scale to the growing residential solar industry, says Quintin Greyling of Nedbank MFC.
Hohm Energy is launching a new feature to open up its marketplace to solar installers as it seeks to rapidly expand its footprint across South Africa. “We bring easy access to residential solar financing to the market, enabling all solar installers in our network to bring their own solar projects into the Hohm marketplace for financing,” says Ohlsen. The company has conducted a successful pilot of this solar partner model with a well-known solar technology company and supplier, Wetility. “We are delighted to be a solar supplier in the Hohm / Nedbank MFC Finance partnership and we are extremely impressed with the turnaround time, professionalism and commitment to the quality of the offering. Similarly, Wetility is also very focused on customer success and delivering quality and compatible hybrid solar hardware , software and financing solutions, which is why we are delighted to be able to join this unique offering through our partnership with Hohm.” says Vincent Maposa, CEO of Wetility.
To participate in Hohm’s marketplace, to access both structured financing for projects coming from solar installers and to receive homeowner projects from Hohm, solar installers can register here to start the process:
Register on the Hohm Marketplace to become an approved solar installer to serve your customers with solar financing.
Hohm Energy is a platinum sponsor of the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association’s (SAPVIA) PV Greencard initiative and provides quality assurance of solar installers to consumers. Hohm takes an active role in supporting the solar installation sector by enabling and ensuring a standard of reliable, high quality solar installations delivered by its network of approved solar installers.
As a fintech platform and aggregator enabling the entire solar industry, Hohm Energy’s marketplace positioning could not come at a better time for consumers and installers alike. “We are very excited to bring this new solar partner model to market to help local solar installers grow their business,” says Ohlsen. “We’re here to serve homeowners, our finance partners and our network of solar installers using technology, making the entire solar process easier, faster and more affordable for everyone.” DM
