Engineering and design faculty construction on track

The Wynberg Girls’ Schools celebrated Women’s Month by launching a solar “crowdsale” through Sun Exchange last week.

The solar crowdsale provides an opportunity for anyone, anywhere in the world (including the Western Cape), to buy solar cells on a digital platform and then lease them to earn an income from the clean electricity they generate.

Sun Exchange, a Cape Town based company that bills itself as “the world’s first buy-to-lease
solar cell marketplace”, holds the online crowdsales to bring together its global community of over
9 000 individuals from 140 countries to make schools’ solar projects possible.

“The solar projects will enable the schools to have solar power installed with no upfront or ongoing operational costs. With immediate savings on their energy bills from the first day a solar project is operational, the schools can focus their resources on what they do best – building tomorrow’s women leaders,” said Lisa Lyhne, Sun Exchange managing
director.

The solar projects do not only reduce the schools’ electricity costs and carbon footprint but also
provide an opportunity for the pupils to learn about the importance of innovation and climate leadership.

Wynberg Girls’ High School pupil Nelisiwe Madubedube said she was excited to see the school implement the project.

“This project will encourage girls to study in the sciences and better our environment and humankind,” she said.

According to Shirley Harding, principal of Wynberg Girls’ High School, the project is an opportunity for the school to demonstrate to its female pupils that
everyone lives in a global village where small actions can have a powerful impact.

“It is so exciting that someone in a distant part of the world can buy solar cells that will provide them with an income stream and us with more affordable electricity to power our school.”

Anyone who wants to get involved can register on www.thesunexchange.com, and keep an eye on the Solar Projects page to participate in the Wynberg
Girls’ Schools crowd sales, which opened last Thursday,