Transparency for customers and investors in solar-diesel hybrid projects: OneShore Energy wins support of HTGF for tapping into this fast-growing market

OneShore Energy stands for efficient, cost-optimized combination of solar and diesel systems to provide stable, reliable power generation in off-grid areas. The software product suite developed by OneShore allows for standardized, validated planning and operation of facilities, creating transparency for customers and investors. This is a key element in reliable forecasting of expected yields and reducing the traditionally high levels of financing costs. The High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF) is financing the innovative Berlin-based company.

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    The price of solar systems has dropped sharply in recent years, in contrast to diesel gener-ators still used in over 95 percent of off-grid locations, such as in Africa and on islands. Utili-ties and electricity producers have avoided the combination diesel generators and solar sys-tems, worried about the stability of island grids and concerns about the difficulty in estimating the necessary investments and yields. OneShore Energy has created a software to solve this problem. Its OneAnalyser, OneDesign and OneOptimiser suite can help off-grid systems cut their diesel consumption by as much as 40 percent.

    Philipp Kunze, the company's founder and managing director, says: "OneShore's software-based product suite is the first of its kind to establish a solid data basis for solar-diesel hybrid customers, and provides significantly greater security for investors seeking to establish whether the systems can provide the predicted yields. This in turn can be used to cut invest-ment volumes and financing costs by reducing the investment risk." The product suite also works with a high degree of automation, allowing for significantly lower costs in the planning and operation of solar-diesel hybrid facilities.

    Klaus Lehmann, Senior Investment Manager at High-Tech Gruenderfonds, says: "Following on the heels of the enormous market growth and the significant cost reductions for solar sys-tems, we see some 500,000 island networks at present in the market for solar-diesel hybrid facilities, representing an enormous as-yet-untapped potential that will only continue to grow. OneShore is the first company to address the issues at hand here with its integrated, soft-ware-based approach: a significant reduction in diesel consumption, reliability and grid stabil-ity, investment security and the ability to secure financing. These factors are crucial to the success of a solar-diesel hybrid project."

    OneShore's products have already been installed at customers in a variety of industries in Tanzania and Kenya, including hospitals, hotel resorts, remote village grids and industrial facilities.