El Nido resort turns to crowdinvestors for solar power project

A luxury eco-resort in El Nido, Palawan, has turned to crowdinvestors in Germany to raise about P30.8 million or 500,000 euros for its planned 175-kilowatt hybrid solar power system.

Investors can start at 500 euros (about P31,000) but those who put in at least 10,000 euros ( P616,000) — at least the first 30 who do so — get to stay free for two nights at the Cauayan Resort.

According to Germany-based GreenVesting Solutions GmbH, which helped kickstart the funding round, the project will have a photovoltaic (PV) system from local partner Enervinci Philippines CEnAG Solar as well as an energy storage system that will be installed by Berlin-based Autarsys GmbH.

The resort is currently using a “new, clean diesel generator,” and the construction work on the PV system and the delivery of the storage system or battery — which has a capacity of 499 kilowatt-hour — will start after the end of the financing round.

The project is co-financed by Berlin-based ecoligo GmbH, a provider of “solar-as-a-service” solutions in emerging markets.

“The system not only supplies solar energy to the resort, but also stores this energy for use at night or in the event that more energy is needed than can be generated by the photovoltaic system with current solar irradiation,” GreenVesting said in a note to potential investors.

“The system will reduce energy costs, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and reduce pollution and noise pollution from existing diesel generators,” it added.

Still, GreenVesting said taking part in the funding round “involves considerable risks and can lead to the complete loss of the invested assets.”

For the first 30 investors who are bullish enough to lay out 10,000 euros, they can avail themselves of the bonus  of two nights for two people at the off-peak months of June to December, and they can do so within five years.

According to GreenVesting, the investor will earn a return of 6 percent per year that will be paid out yearly for eight years.

GreenVesting said that an investor, for every 1,000 euros invested, can help avoid the emission of 0.53 ton of carbon dioxide each year.

GreenVesting said that, on average, a person in Germany causes a carbon footprint of about 11 tons of carbon dioxide yearly.

“We have developed the optimal technology and created the basic infrastructure for Cauayan’s transition to renewable energy, and now we have to overcome the last hurdle to implementation — financing,” Enervinci managing director Matthias Ross said.

“We saw crowdinvesting as a key solution for renewable energy development in the Philippines and elsewhere,” Ross said.