Zug, Switzerland — 5 May 2022 — This week, ENGIE Energy Access launched the Crowdfund for Solar platform on the Energy Web Chain, a new staking platform that allows Energy Web Token holders to support the installation of solar energy infrastructure for communities in Sub-Saharan Africa needing affordable and clean energy access.
We are extremely proud of our community for participating in the Crowdfund for Solar platform. The platform was 100% filled within 7 hours! Staked $EWT will be providing energy access in countries with low electrification rates like Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia, which is one of the world’s first DeFi solution that ties real-world impact and DeFi cash flows!
After the pool was filled up in record time, an awesome community member pointed us to a discrepancy between the total SLT minted and EWT staked in the Crowdfund for Solar platform. Since the contract was already full and staking was no longer possible, we decided to pause the contract until further notice to investigate the root cause of the unexpected issue, which was not witnessed in any of the tests before and that has not been spotted in the official smart contract audit and review. We found a minor issue that only affects the last transaction in a very specific scenario. The best and most efficient way to counter this is to keep the contract paused, especially as the pool has already been filled and staking is no longer possible. Then, as planned, participants can withdraw their funds and rewards after May 17th, 2023 (Release rewards date). This provides sufficient time to fund new solar installations and focus especially on women-led households and small and medium enterprises in countries like Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia.
However, as communicated by Engie Energy Access, participants still have the chance to withdraw their original contributions without rewards in EWT until 15:00 PM CET on May 17th, 2022. Whoever decides to opt-out, should send their SLTs held in their wallet (imported from the smart contract 0x8df330b8966ebE69Be996653e50252c6D44a527a) to the Crowdfund for Solar wallet:0xff0E9ddB12F1082833B13E144b60df6cf04aE116. They will receive corresponding EWTs within 1 working day. For any issues with the withdrawals, please contact meerim.ruslanova@energyweb.org before 15:00 PM CET on May 17th, 2022.
We would like to thank our community once again for the unprecedented support and contributions towards accelerating affordable clean energy in Sub-Saharan Africa with the help of DeFi.
Special and wholehearted thanks to the community member for spotting the issue early on! We were able to act swiftly thanks to the diligence of this community member!
What’s next!
We will shortly make a decision on which countries exactly will receive the funds for solar installations. We will publish quarterly reports depicting the progress on our website under “Progress Reporting”. Upon the evaluation of the current campaign, we will also explore further ways of scaling this solution.
About Energy Web
Energy Web is a global, member-driven non-profit accelerating the low-carbon, customer-centric energy transition by unleashing the potential of open-source, digital technologies. Our Energy Web Decentralized Operating System (EW-DOS) enables any energy asset, owned by any customer, to participate in any energy market. The Energy Web Chain — the world’s first enterprise-grade, public blockchain tailored to the energy sector — anchors the EW-DOS tech stack. The Energy Web ecosystem comprises leading utilities, grid operators, renewable energy developers, corporate energy buyers, IoT / telecom leaders, and others.
About ENGIE Energy Access
ENGIE Energy Access is the leading Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) and mini-grids solutions provider in Africa. The company develops innovative, off-grid solar solutions for homes, public services, and businesses, enabling customers and distribution partners access to clean, affordable energy. The PAYGo solar home systems are financed through affordable installments from $0.19 per day, and the mini-grids foster economic development by enabling electrical productive use and triggering business opportunities for entrepreneurs in rural communities. With over 1,700 employees, operations in nine countries across Africa (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia), almost 1.5 million customers, and more than 7 million lives impacted so far, ENGIE Energy Access aims to remain the leading clean energy company, serving millions of customers across Africa by 2025.
