Look back on 2020: A year like no other

2020 has been a year unlike any we’ve ever experienced. As it draws to an end, we hope for a better 2021 for those who have been impacted by the pandemic. At ecoligo, we’re fortunate to look back on 2020 with positivity. Although we have faced challenges, the year has been the most successful for us so far.

The year was off to a great start with CEO Martin Baart invited to join President Frank Walter Steinmeier’s trip to Kenya in February. Indeed, he was part of a delegation with prominent figures such as Dirk Nowitzki and top German businesses like Siemens. He had the honour to meet President Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenyan TV also interviewed Martin.

We launched new exciting projects…

In February, we also launched operations in Vietnam and were quickly riding the wave of the country’s solar boom. Our Country Manager Thuong Duong secured an abundance of solar projects that we installed at record rates. This included our biggest project yet, a 2MW system for Dong Nam Viet Packaging. Read more in our interview with Thuong after he recently chaired a leading energy conference in Vietnam.

This was the first of three countries we were to enter in 2020. Later in the year, we established an office in Chile and in October, purchased the Thai solar branch of energy giant RWE. Through this we acquired a solar project supplying manufacturing company Xcellent, securing our entry into Thailand and our second Southeast Asian market. ecoligo is now active in 6 countries, spanning 3 continents: a reflection of the global shift  to clean energy in action.

Thanks to our crowdinvestors

None of this would have been possible without our impact-driven crowdinvestors. This year they financed 21 projects with a total capacity of more than 4.5 MWp. Over 2000 committed investors raised more than €4 million for projects via the platform this year. It’s not just a one-way street: in 2020, more than €400,000 in interest and repayments was paid out to the crowd – on time and in full, as ever.

To protect these investors against impacts of the pandemic or other unforeseen events, ecoligo set up a guarantee fund in May. The fund ensures the payment of future interest and repayments even in times of economic crisis. So far, the guarantee fund has not been used and is still available in full.

While offline events were few this year, we were still able to inaugurate some of our projects, such as Dong Nam Viet Packaging and Credible Blooms. Next year, we’re looking forward to inaugurating Kenya’s first floating solar system at Rift Valley Roses.

We’re also very grateful for the fantastic partners we worked with this year. In addition to ongoing partnerships with local EPC companies like Vu Phong Solar, we have joined forces with sustainable organisations. We did it with ecosia and supported great initiatives like the Fridays climate film. We believe that collaboration holds the key to solving the global challenges we face. To this end, we are also founding members of the Greentech Alliance that was launched this year.

2020 still ends on a good note

If we look back on 2020, our success did not go unnoticed, with over 70 publications about ecoligo and our projects. Yet the most satisfaction comes from the impact we have achieved: the projects we have signed to date will save a total of over 380,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions over the project lifetimes. These projects not only reduce polluting carbon emissions but enable the businesses we work with to grow sustainably.

As the world becomes increasingly aware of the climate crisis, we are proud to provide a solution that is not only recognised for its effectiveness. It also enables so many different people to take part. We thank you for joining us on this journey and look forward to achieving even more impact in 2021.