, a global solar leasing platform, today announced that a crypto investor has used bitcoin to fund a large solar project that will provide clean and affordable solar energy to Pretoria Boys’ High School in South Africa. Pretoria Boys High School is one of the most prominent high schools in South Africa and is also famous globally as one of the schools Elon Musk attended.
The 198kW solar system will cut 5,800 tonnes of carbon over 20 years, equivalent to taking 210,000 petroleum cars off the road for a year. It will reduce the school’s energy bills and, critically, reduce the education leader’s reliance on diesel generators during scheduled power outages, which have become a feature of South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis.
Founded in 1901, the prestigious state-run boys’ school in Pretoria provides over 1,500 students with a world class education. Among its noteworthy alumni of Rhodes scholars, supreme court judges, archbishops, business leaders and sporting heroes are 2021 Booker Prize Winner Damon Galgut, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, international cricketer Mark Fish, and Max Theiler, who won the Nobel Prize for his vaccine against yellow fever.