Growthpoint Properties Launches e Co2 Green Energy Initiative with Fuel Switch to Power Sandton

Growthpoint's e-co₂ will deliver its first green electrons to 10 Sandton office buildings in October, with hydropower wheeled over the national grid from the Boston Hydroelectric Plant, newly developed in the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme in partnership with Serengeti Energy. The e-co₂ roll-out hopes to puts Growthpoint ahead in bringing certified renewable energy into daily business use. e-co₂ wheeled green electricity is cost competitive for Growthpoint tenants and has a zero-carbon footprint, helping save money and advance their sustainability goals, says the company.

Growthpoint has a track record in sustainable property innovation. For e-co₂, the company signed a 195GWh Power Purchase Agreement with Etana Energy in 2023, securing a mix of hydro, wind and solar power. This energy underpins Growthpoint's e-co2 solution, which delivers wheeled renewable electricity directly to commercial buildings and their tenants, adds the company.

Growthpoint says that breakthrough lies in how this energy is certified, tracked and monetised for their tenants. To deliver this capability as part of a growing suite of high-impact business-enabling tenant benefits, Growthpoint partners with Fuel Switch, a blockchain-based energy tech platform and recent winner of the Agence Française de Développement’s Digital Energy Challenge, says the company.

Partnering for Innovative Green Energy Certification

Fuel Switch's platform certifies the electricity as green using IoT, blockchain and AI, aiming to provide independent third-party verification in an innovative manner. Once certified, the green energy benefit is recorded on a digital certificate, says the company.

Each REC confirms that one megawatt-hour of renewable energy has been generated and supplied to the national grid. The RECs are stored on the blockchain as a digital asset. Each is time-stamped and linked to a renewable energy source, adds the company.

When a solar panel generates electricity, it creates two things — actual power, and a certificate that says, "this power came from a clean, renewable source," says Growthpoint.

Certified Green Energy: a Valuable New Currency for Business

Corporates have come under increasing pressure to meet net-zero and ESG commitments. On top of this, sustainability reporting is increasingly carrying the same weight and scrutiny as financial reporting, says the company.

RECs can be redeemed for certified reduction of Scope 2 Carbon emissions. Fuel Switch integrates directly with South Africa's national REC registry, zaRECs, as well as the global I-REC standard governed by the I-TRACK Foundation. Its blockchain platform provides an immutable record for each REC from issuance to retirement, which ensures auditability aligned with global ESG standards, adds the company.

Moreover, with South Africa's constrained economic growth, businesses are under immense pressure to grow and find new revenue streams. RECs can be monetised by selling them on the voluntary REC market where rights to green electricity are sought after, says the company.

Large companies — Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Meta — are a driving a surging demand for RECS as they seek to reach 100% renewable electricity for their operations, adds the company.

Until now, Africa's participation in the voluntary RECs market has been limited. High costs, slow manual processes and opaque trading make it accessible to only the largest-scale projects. That changes in October. When e-co2 goes live, Fuel Switch will enable Growthpoint tenants of all sizes to access this new market, says the company.

Green Energy Trading Made Simple for Growthpoint Tenants

This collaboration is functionality pioneered and developed by the partnership, which integrates Fuel Switch directly into Growthpoint's property portfolio, green energy data and IT systems. The innovation lies in blockchain smart contracts that use IoT devices and business logic to bring all stakeholders together with a digital handshake, says the company.

As e-co2 launches in October, participating tenants in select Growthpoint buildings will have their smart electricity meter consumption data automatically sent for verification, and the corresponding RECs will be issued directly into secure digital wallets. These wallets are free for Growthpoint tenants and accessed through the Fuel Switch Exchange platform, allowing tenants to access, manage and deploy their RECs based on business needs. They can redeem them to lower emissions or sell them for additional revenue, adds the company.

This makes Growthpoint the first to offer a commercial-scale, wheeled renewable electricity solution where renewable energy use is certified at the building level and the benefits are made available to tenants in a verified, auditable format, says the company.

Fuel Switch's Innovation Behind the Scenes

Fuel Switch explains that an elegant system of automated actions executes predetermined smart contract rules embedded a secure blockchain data base. The result is green energy that is independently certified with the highest level of trust and transparency and direct access to an evolving trading market that is usually inaccessible to all but the biggest players due to high participation costs, says the company.

With Fuel Switch, transactions that previously took weeks can now settle virtually instantly. Its smart contract technology is a much more cost-effective way to transact leading to marginal fees. Its infrastructure is capable of handling over 10 000 transactions per second, and it is already trusted by major corporates in South Africa, adds the company.

Democratising the Green Economy

Werner van Antwerpen, Head of Corporate Advisory at Growthpoint's, says the platform opens new doors. "It is a game-changer for how businesses can participate in clean energy markets and carbon reduction reporting. By combining our e-co₂ wheeled green electricity property portfolio with Fuel Switch's blockchain technology, we're opening the green energy market to businesses of all sizes, creating measurable environmental impact and generating real financial value."

Gideon Maasz, COO of Fuel Switch, adds, "Our mission is to make participation in the green economy easier, quicker, more cost effect and more transparent. Our partnership with Growthpoint accelerates this goal. With blockchain as the backbone, every REC is verifiable, tradeable and audit-ready, fully aligned with evolving IFRS sustainability reporting standards."

While both e-co₂ and the Fuel Switch integration support Growthpoint's long-term environmental goal to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across its portfolio by 2050, the implications are much bigger. These solutions are built around Growthpoint's tenants — thousands of businesses, big and small, in all sectors of South Africa's economy, says the company.

More than that, understanding that a vibrant and healthy green energy market is crucial for energy security and job creation, the development Fuel Switch has undertaken with Growthpoint aims to expand the green economy for others too. As an open platform, Fuel Switch can be used by any business or individual, globally, concludes the company.

For more information, visit www.growthpoint.co.za. You can also follow Growthpoint Properties on Facebook, LinkedIn, or on Instagram.

*Image courtesy of contributor