CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
Westore is building Africa’s first energy storage leasing platform through the integration of Advanced Lead-Acid batteries and Lithium-based batteries into hybrid energy storage systems. The platform will allow anyone to buy energy storage capacity assets through a cryptocurrency crowd sale and in turn will generate income from the storage asset that is contracted long-term to commercial customers. This aims to break the high-cost barrier for energy storage systems and accelerate the use of solar plus storage systems through hybrid battery and thermal storage technologies.
Initially targeting commercial and agricultural customers in South Africa and mini-grid applications in Africa, Westore aims to focus on funding battery energy storage systems to be coupled with solar PPA’s on separate contract terms or on modified PPA’s.
Westore will leverage the cost benefit of advanced lead-acid batteries supplied by Exfil Energy (www.exfil.co.za) to combine with locally available LiFePO4 batteries in hybrid combinations to provide funded energy storage assets at the lowest market available leasing or modified PPA rate. The combination of the the two chemistries coupled with appropriate management and algorithms allows hybrid applications to combat unnecessary Partial-state-of-charge operation and shallow cycling of the lead-acid component, thereby combining a power and energy configuration that is customizable according to application requirements.
As part of the South African Climate Finance Accelerator, part of the UK Government’s investment initiatives into South Africa’s transition to a low carbon economy and is delivered in partnership with the National Business Initiative (NBI) and GreenCape, Westore is the beneficiary of expert level capacity building sessions delivered by the CFA in preparation for an official investment event scheduled for the end of January 2023 where up to 70 institutional and venture investors with an interest in low carbon transition opportunities will be evaluating various cohort investment opportunities, where Westore aims to raise in excess of USD $5,000,000 to co-fund energy storage assets in Africa in combination with the crowdfunding platform being built.
Contact information: www.westore.africa
UK GOV PRESS RELEASE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-new-projects-join-climate-finance-accelerator-south-africa
