Day: April 27, 2022

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Sun King Raises $260 Million, Led by General Atlantic’s BeyondNetZero, to Expand Global Access to Affordable Solar Energy

The solar energy provider, formerly known as Greenlight Planet, plans to use the funds to rapidly and sustainably bring electricity access to more homes across Africa and Asia

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Sun King, the largest provider of solar energy products for off-grid homes in Africa and Asia, announced it has raised $260 million in Series D funding, led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, along with M&G Investments’ Catalyst team and Arch Emerging Markets Partners. Founded in 2007 as Greenlight Planet, the company recently rebranded as Sun King, the name under which its products have long been sold.

Sun King is leading a transformation in how electricity is provided across Africa and Asia, where 1.8 billion people still lack access to a reliable electrical grid. To date, Sun King has powered the lives of 82 million people across 40 countries. The company’s solar home systems power lights, mobile phones, radios, and larger home appliances. Sun King systems are dramatically more affordable and sustainable than kerosene or new power lines, allowing customers to leapfrog electrical grids and fossil-fuel energy sources entirely.

Today, Sun King operates the world’s largest direct-to-consumer, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar distribution network, growing at a rate of 150,000 new clients per month across seven countries. In Kenya, one in five people use Sun King today, with 18 million Kenyans having benefited over a decade of operations. In Nigeria, the company’s user base has tripled in the past year alone. While growing rapidly, the company has remained consistently profitable.

Sun King now accounts for 38% of total industry-wide PAYG solar revenue according to the latest data collected by GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry. As a result of Sun King’s growth, the company has eliminated 22 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions while saving consumers $4.4 billion in energy costs.

The $260 million financing includes $100 million in primary investment for Sun King’s continued expansion. Sun King’s founders retain voting control of the board. In addition to the company’s plans for continued geographical expansion, the funds will also be allocated towards product-line expansion, including larger solar systems equipped with AC-electricity inverters (capable of powering larger appliances like refrigerators) and new products such as mobile phones.

“This investment in Sun King marks an incredible inflection point for the global off-grid solar industry,” said T. Patrick Walsh, co-founder, and CEO of Sun King. “Over the last 15 years, we have delivered solar energy and light to over 82 million people, enabling kids to study for school, helping entrepreneurs run small businesses, and allowing families to power their lives, free from the danger and high cost of kerosene lanterns. This landmark investment allows us to continue scaling our technology, service, and financing capabilities so we can meet the needs of the next billion energy consumers.”

“Sun King is leading a global transformation in the way we provide electricity to consumers in Africa and Asia,” said Sun King co-founder Anish Thakkar. “It’s now dramatically more affordable to power a home with a solar system than to extend the electrical grid: for less than the cost of a single electrical pole, we can install an entire solar energy system in-home. This funding will further unlock our ability to scale this revolution to the 1.8 billion people who need these products today, and the next billion who will need them tomorrow.”

“BeyondNetZero is excited to back Sun King, an industry-leading company that offers consumers accessible and affordable solar products, supported by fair and sustainable business practices,” said Eli Aheto, Managing Director on the BeyondNetZero team at General Atlantic. “We look forward to partnering with the company and its leadership as they bring innovative and affordable off-grid solar products to new markets and continue to grow their meaningful contribution to the global net zero transition.”

Ekta Partners acted as lead financial advisor for this transaction. Goodwin Procter LLP provided legal counsel to Sun King, and Freshfields provided legal counsel to BeyondNetZero.

About Sun King
Sun King is the world’s largest off-grid solar energy company, serving the 1.8 billion people across Africa and Asia who lack access to reliable electricity. Through innovative product design, affordable pay-as-you-go financing, and a grassroots field team of 15,000 agents providing installation and service, Sun King has powered the lives of over 82 million people. Founded in 2007 as Greenlight Planet, Sun King sets the gold standard for off-grid solar technology as part of its mission: powering access to brighter lives. For more information, please visit: www.sunking.com.

About BeyondNetZero
BeyondNetZero is the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. BeyondNetZero invests in growth companies delivering innovative climate solutions that have the potential to meet and exceed net zero emissions targets, with a focus on decarbonization, energy efficiency, resource conservation and emissions management. This venture combines General Atlantic’s growth equity experience and global network with a team of experienced climate investors, advisors and industry executives who bring decades of experience in both addressing climate-focused problems and building pioneering growth companies. For more information on BeyondNetZero, please visit: https://beyond-net-zero.com.

About General Atlantic
General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with more than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 445 growth companies throughout its history. Established in 1980 to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and deliver lasting impact, the firm combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to scale innovative businesses around the world. General Atlantic currently has over $84 billion in assets under management inclusive of all products as of December 31, 2021, and more than 215 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Stamford. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit: www.generalatlantic.com.

About M&G Investments
M&G Investments’ Catalyst strategy is investing up to £5 billion into innovative privately-owned global businesses working to create a more sustainable world. For over ninety years M&G Investments has been helping its customers to prosper by putting investments to work, which in turn creates jobs, homes, and vital infrastructure in the real economy. Its investment solutions span equities, fixed income, multi asset, cash, private debt, infrastructure, and real estate. M&G Investments is part of M&G plc, a FTSE-100 listed company with over £370 billion of assets under management (as of 31 December 2021), and customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas, and Asia, including individual savers and investors, life insurance policy holders and pension scheme members.

Contact: Jackie Zupsic – jzupsic@tuskstrategies.com

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Clearspan Unveils Ping

Clearspan Ping, a portal to personalized communications, provides customizable features, security, privacy and control

DALLAS, Texas, April 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Clearspan on Wednesday unveiled Ping, a customizable communications and collaboration solution that delivers secure voice, video and messaging anywhere, anytime and on any device. Purpose-built to serve the world’s leading service providers and largest organizations, Clearspan Ping is designed to deliver unique user experiences with the security, privacy and control that large organizations require.

Ping is the latest addition to Clearspan’s lineup of scalable communication technologies and serves as a foundational component in its journey to personalized communications.

“At Clearspan, we’re committed to creating solutions that make it easier to create unique user experiences while retaining the security, privacy and controls that large organizations require,” said Bill Crank, Clearspan’s chief executive officer. “For decades, Clearspan has powered ubiquitous unified communications solutions that empower service providers and large organizations. Clearspan Ping is the next generation communications portal that enables personalized communications and will continue to digitally transform today’s modern workforce, no matter where they’re located.”

Ping’s modern user features include point-to-point and multiparty voice, video and messaging; screen and file sharing; team rooms that allow private space for collaboration; PSTN calling; and flexible access options including browser based, desktop, and mobile applications.

Ping sets itself apart with unique features:

  • Brandable: Ping is brandable for both service providers and organizations. There are no cobranding requirements, meaning Ping can truly reflect any organization.
  • Customizable: From easy integration of commonly used applications, such as call center agent control, faxing, and SMS texting, to cross platform messaging and IoT device monitoring, Ping is built to be customized. Additionally, Ping’s deployment model is flexible. Users can choose from Clearspan cloud, public cloud, private cloud, or premise-based hosting.
  • Secure: Ping is 100 percent private with end-to-end session encryption, allowing complete data sovereignty without data mining.

Ping will be available worldwide beginning Sunday, May 1. Ping has already been trialed by some of the United States’ largest universities and global tier one service providers. Interested parties can find more information about Ping and request a demonstration on www.ClearspanCloud.com.

About Clearspan  

Clearspan powers ubiquitous unified communications solutions that help the world’s largest organizations digitally transform the way they work. For over forty years, Clearspan has enabled service providers and large organizations with innovative solutions and operational efficiency at scale. Clearspan’s standards-based architecture uniquely delivers the carrier-grade reliability, scalability and security required – without sacrificing the flexibility to seamlessly integrate both modern and legacy business applications and environments. Learn more at www.ClearspanCloud.com.

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Kayla Ayres
Clearspan
(214) 378-7970
kayres@thepointgroup.com

 

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Huawei Promotes Sustainable Data Centers at Global Data Center Facility Forum 2022

MONACO, April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Huawei held the Global Data Center Facility Forum 2022, with the theme of “Smart DC, Building the Future”, on April 26 in Monaco to drive sustainability in the data center industry. The conference convened more than 200 business leaders, industry experts, clients, and partners from around the world to establish valuable connections and discuss key issues facing the rapidly changing industry, such as decarbonization and digitalization.

Charles Yang, Senior Vice President of Huawei and CEO of Huawei Data Center Facility Team, said in his opening remarks that as we enter the intelligent era and carbon neutrality has become the global shared mission, data centers will see changes in the service form, energy supply, and operation and maintenance models. Huawei Data Centre Facility Team will embrace the changes by optimizing organizational structure, continuously investing in innovation, and building a healthy business ecosystem to drive the sustainable development of the data center industry.

Green data centers play a critical role in achieving net-zero goals. In pursuit of green and low-carbon data centers, Huawei believes that data center facilities need to go green throughout the life cycle. It means the facility features a green construction with a prefabricated modular architecture, a green cooling solution to lower PUE, a green power supply with ultra-high power density, and AI-enabled green management.

When it comes to the role of green ICT playing in Europe’s path to decarbonization, He Bo, President of Huawei Digital Power Western Europe, pointed out that low-carbon ICT infrastructure, such as data centers, will play an important role to support for Europe to achieve the goal of “Carbon Neutrality by 2050” in the future. By integrating digital and power electronics technologies, Huawei provides innovative solutions such as fast delivery, extreme PUE, and centralized energy storage to create low-carbon data centers and contribute to a greener world.

In his keynote on Next-Generation DC, Sanjay Kumar Sainani, Global Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Huawei Data Center Business noted that we envision the next generation center to be converged, low carbon, and smart. Four innovations – Bit innovation, Watt innovation, Heat innovation, and Architecture innovation – will support future-oriented, sustainable data centers.

Other industry experts also shared their insights into how to power the green and digital transition of the data center industry at the event. Simon McCormick, CTO of Echelon, introduced their digital transformation path towards carbon neutrality.

Kim Gunnelius, COO and Co-founder at Ficolo, talked about operating data centers with 100% green power and lower PUE, and enabling the industry to reduce its carbon footprint through data centers.

Xavier Matagne, CTO of Africa Data Centres, highlighted that modular and prefabricated construction excels at high quality, easy site management, low risk, and green site operation compared with traditional solutions.

Prescott Augustus GAYLORD, Senior Vice President and Head of Sustainability at DBS, shared practices in achieving decarbonization and digitalization from a financial institution perspective.

Highlights at Datacloud Global Congress 2022

Huawei Digital Power showcased low-carbon, smart data center solutions and joined conversations around the trends that will shape the data center industry at Datacloud Global Congress 2022, the leading event in the data center and ICT sectors that was held in Monaco from 25-27 April.

Huawei exhibited the low-carbon, smart data center solutions at the booth, including the PowerPod+Smart Li power supply system for improved energy efficiency, the indirect evaporative cooling solution for the minimized use of potable water, and the smart modular DC for fast deployment and flexible scalability.

Reducing the carbon footprint of power-consuming data centers holds the key to mitigating climate change. Huawei has officially joined the IMasons Climate Accord (ICA), a coalition designed to govern a methodology to measure and reduce the carbon in infrastructure through products, power, and materials, to highlight its commitment to a low carbon, smart society.

Moving forward, Huawei will cooperate closely with partners such as consulting, design, engineering companies, and suppliers, to build an open and win-win industrial ecosystem and promote the sustainable development of the data center industry.

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DREAM11 RELIES ON VOLT ACTIVE DATA TO ENGAGE 130 MILLION USERS IN IPL 2022

The World’s Largest Fantasy Sports Platform Has Announced Recent Expansion of Partnership with Volt Active Data on the Heels of Measurable Success.

BEDFORD, Mass., April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Volt Active Data, the only enterprise-grade data platform designed to meet the real-time demands of today’s high-profile gaming and transaction-intense technology companies, today announced that Dream11, the world’s largest fantasy sports platform, has expanded its contract with Volt.

Volt Active Data Logo

Dream11 has more than 130 million active users and is already production-ready to handle more than 10 million concurrent users at peak times. Dream11 initially started with Volt in the IPL 2018 season, and after seeing success with the technology—in part due to the low latency, high throughput, and uptime assurance the Volt platform provides—decided to deepen its relationship with Volt and broaden its use of the Volt Active Data Platform.

“This is a win-win for Dream11 and Volt,” said Volt Active Data CEO David Flower. “The expansion represents not only another validation of the Volt Active Data Platform as a leader in real-time data technology, but it’s also a game-changer for Dream11 as it will essentially future-proof their platform for the explosive growth they’re experiencing and will continue to experience.”

Volt provides the accuracy, reliability, and performance demanded by the millions of sports fans looking to join fantasy contests during the IPL. Whether it’s among friends or among a million other fans competing to showcase their skill and knowledge of cricket, Volt’s low latency even under huge spikes in traffic (right after the toss) enables Dream11 to provide the best fantasy experience for fans and become the number one choice in India for fantasy sports.

“With the 2022 IPL season promising to set new record numbers across the board, we knew this was the perfect time to step up our strategic relationship with the Volt Active Data team,” said Dream11 CTO Amit Sharma. “At Dream11, a great user experience, data-driven approach and cutting-edge technology are always at our core. The data pattern challenge we face during the IPL is very nuanced and Volt is the one platform we’ve found that can help us overcome these technical challenges.”

About Volt Active Data

Volt Active Data empowers enterprise-grade applications to ingest, process, and act on data in single-digit milliseconds to tap into new revenue streams and prevent revenue loss. With industry-leading customers in telecommunications, finance, gaming, and many other verticals, The Volt Platform is uniquely positioned to be the go-to technology for any company seeking to take full advantage of 5G, IoT, and whatever comes next. Learn more at voltactivedata.com.

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Censys Grows Global Footprint with New European Operations and Expansive Customer and Partner Network

Company to showcase its leading attack surface management solution at 2022 DTX Manchester amid growing interest in internet asset visibility

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Censys, the leading provider of continuous attack surface management, today announced the next phase of its growth strategy by expanding the company’s international business to European markets. Following its $35 million Series B funding round announced in January, Censys’ strong business and investment performance increased the company’s team by 50%, furthering its mission to enable organizations to comprehensively manage their Internet-facing assets and risks.

Censys logo (PRNewsfoto/Censys)

“Launching our European office is a crucial next step and provides access to a key strategic market as we continue establishing Censys’ leadership in the cybersecurity space,” said Brad Brooks, CEO, Censys. “Our team has already seen such impressive growth in 2022 and we look forward to bringing our innovative attack surface management platform to a new region of customers in Europe.”

The expansion in Europe along with its first European-focused strategic partnership with EveryCloud, a UK-based email security platform through Hornetsecurity, enables increased regional hiring and operations to extend Censys’ product accessibility and business reach. The investment furthers Censys’ ability to serve and protect customers across the world while taking the guesswork out of understanding and protecting an organization’s digital footprint. Censys empowers enterprises with the tools and insights to manage their attack surface effectively, without compromising the speed of the business.

Since 2009, EveryCloud’s purpose has been to give value to IT departments and their wider organizations. Censys’ partnership will further enhance EveryCloud’s suite of best-of-breed cloud security solutions, giving its customers access to Censys’ data and product portfolio.

“Cloud adoption continues to grow rapidly, and having a solution to provide visibility of your organisation’s managed and unmanaged cloud assets is incredibly important,” said Paul Richards, Director of EveryCloud. “Attack Surface Management gives IT teams the confidence they need to ensure they can keep on top of potential security risks across their organisation’s entire digital footprint.”

Censys’ rapid growth led the company to expand into Europe and the EMEA region, bringing James DeBragga onboard as Censys International’s Managing Director and Chief Marketing Officer to lead the new office headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Bringing more than 25 years of industry experience, DeBragga will oversee Censys’ European presence and continued international expansion through local investment and hiring in sales, marketing, customer success and partner channel management.

For more information about Censys’ European expansion, visit our booth at DTX Manchester on April 27-28, 2022.

About Censys

Censys, Inc.™  is the leading provider of continuous attack surface management. Founded in 2013 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Censys gives organizations the world’s most comprehensive real-time view of global networks and devices. Customers like FireEye, Google, NATO, Swiss Armed Forces, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and over 10% of the Fortune 500 rely on the company’s Internet-wide continuous visibility platform to discover and prevent cybersecurity threats. At Censys, you can be yourself. We like it that way. Diversity fuels our mission, and we are committed to inclusion across race, gender, age and identity. To learn more, visit censys.io and follow Censys on Twitter.

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Charli D’Amelio, Social Media’s Biggest Star, to Star in Ryan Kavanaugh’s Proxima Media New Film Franchise ‘Home School’

Second Proxima film to list on the entertainment stock exchange (ESX.io,) allowing fans to buy into the film
Not since ‘The Six Sense’ reveal will audiences be this shocked

LOS ANGELES, April 26, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Home School, the first in an eight-film franchise of supernatural thrillers starring two-time Kids Choice Award winner Charli D’Amelio, will be produced by EGOT nominee (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) Ryan Kavanaugh—directed by F. Javier Gutierrez.

Kavanaugh has brought more than 200 feature films, and 40 TV shows to audiences worldwide, and this will be the second film to list on the entertainment stock exchange, esx.io.

Award-winning visionary horror film director F. Javier Gutiérrez (Before the Fall, Rings) has come on board to direct. Home School marks the live-action feature film debut of D’Amelio, the first TikTokker to accrue 100 million followers on the platform. Production is set to begin July 2022.

Charli shot to global fame on TikTok after posting dance videos in 2019. Since exploding on the app, Charli has parlayed her success into other ventures. She appeared in a 2020 Super Bowl ad for Sabra Hummus and danced in a Jennifer Lopez music video. In September of last year, Hulu launched The D’Amelio Show docuseries, starring Charli and her family, which has already been picked up for a second season. Charli co-created her own clothing line Social Tourist and has worked with major fashion brands, including Louis Vuitton and Prada. Charli was also the youngest star to appear on Time Magazine’s NEXT list.

In Home School, Charli will play ‘Mira,’ a 17-year-old who moves to a different town to live with her aunt after her mother passes away. After arriving in what seems like the all-too-perfect town, Mira soon discovers that her mother’s death and her own future are intertwined supernaturally.

“As soon as I read Home School, I knew it was for me. I connected with the character, Mira, the story, the script, and the team. I knew if I was going to do a movie, it needed to be something fun, edgy, and fresh,” Charli says. “While the role will certainly be challenging and push me to learn to act and become Mira, it’s a fun ride and meant to be fun to make and fun to watch. I also wanted to make sure I surrounded myself with a great team.”

“When Ryan and I met while developing The Crow remake with Luke Evans, we knew we wanted to foster a creative partnership further. I’m thrilled for Home School to mark our first official project together,” explains director F. Javier Gutiérrez. “With its compelling visuals and a strong psychological element, I think Home School has the potential to be a modern classic. I can’t wait to work alongside Charli and the Proxima team.”

Gutiérrez, a two-time nominee for the best European Fantastic Film award, shot to movie fame with his horror film, Rings, the third installment of The Ring franchise, that opened #2 at the U.S. box office and was praised by Koji Suzuki, author of The Ring novels. His short Brasil, won top honors and numerous awards, including winning the Universal Studios Film Master Award for Best European Director. After its North American premiere at AFI Fest, the film came to the attention of the U.S. industry, landing #3 on the Hollywood International Watchlist. That same year, Before the Fall got an offer for a remake from the late legendary filmmaker Wes Craven. Early in his career, Gutiérrez established himself as a horror filmmaker to watch when his first short film, Brasil, which he directed, wrote, and produced in 2002, also won the Sitges Film Festival, one of the world’s foremost international festivals, specializing in fantasy and horror.

“We’ve been developing this project for a few years to bring something new and exciting to the screen,” says Ryan Kavanaugh. “Having Javier direct and Charli star is the perfect package. We are going for ‘The Sixth Sense’ meets ‘Get Out,’” said Kavanaugh.

Home School is written by Casey Giltner, a Minneapolis-based screenwriter whose script On the First Day of Christmas was featured on the 2021 BloodList and was recently picked up by Village Roadshow and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. SVP of Production at Proxima, Daniel Herther, who shepherded the development of Home School, will be producing as well. Kavanaugh’s partner Bobby Sarnevesht and Marc, Heidi, and Dixie D’Amelio will serve as executive producers.

Charli D’Amelio is repped by UTA’s Steve Cohen and Kevin Yorn of Morris, Yorn, Barnes, Levine, Krintzman, Rubenstein, Kohner, Endlich & Gellman. Proxima and Kavanaugh are repped by Neil Sacker of Sacker Entertainment Law. F. Javier Gutiérrez is represented by UTA’s Michael Sheresky and Nick Shumaker of Anonymous Content. Stephen Clark of Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler Feldman & Clark negotiated the deal on behalf of F. Javier Gutiérrez.

About Proxima and Ryan Kavanaugh
Founder of Proxima Media, the controlling shareholder of Triller, Ryan Kavanaugh is one of the most accomplished, prolific, and honored executives in entertainment industry history. Using an intelligent financial model of film finance, he was dubbed the creator of “Moneyball for movies.” He produced, distributed, and/or structured financing for more than 200 films, generating more than $20 billion in worldwide box office revenue and earning 60 Oscar nominations. He is the 25th highest-grossing film producer of all time. His productions include Fast and Furious 2-6, 300, Social Network, Limitless, Fighter, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, and Mama Mia! Kavanaugh and Proxima pioneered an innovative finance deal for post-bankruptcy Marvel, making the studio and finance structure that led to Marvel Cinematic Universe. He built the SVOD (streaming) category with Netflix, which boosted that company’s market capitalization from $2 to $10 billion. Kavanaugh is the co-founder of Triller, one of the three fastest-growing creator platforms. He recently led the acquisition, merger, and re-launch of the social media and music app.

He also created the powerhouse television company, now known as Critical Content, producing hit shows like Catfish on MTV and Limitless on CBS, which he sold for $200M. The company had 40 television series across 19 networks before its sale. Kavanaugh has earned several achievements and awards, from Variety’s Producer of the Year Award to The Hollywood Reporter’s Leadership Award, from Fortune’s 40 Under 40 Most Influential People in Business to Forbes’ Fortune 400, Billion-Dollar Producer by the Daily Variety and the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Vanity Fair.

About Entertainment Stock Exchange (“ESX”)
Entertainment Stock X (ESX), a first-of-its-kind platform allowing users and fans to invest in film and entertainment projects via the Jobs Act, is an innovative platform for financing entertainment. The company fills the need for new and more efficient financing for filmmakers. ESX allows filmmakers to generate a valuable direct marketing relationship with fans and will enable fans to invest in film for the first time. More information is available on ESX.io

Media Contact

Michelle Vieyra
Jive PR + Digital
202-415-7714
michelle@jiveprdigital.com
www.jiveprdigital.com

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Envision Energy Awarded 2000 MW Wind Turbine Contract in India

DELHI, India, April 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Envision Energy today announced that it has been awarded a 2000 MW wind turbine order in India. The 596 wind turbines, all manufactured in Envision’s India factory, will be delivered by the end of 2023.

Envision will supply and commission its state-of-the-art EN156/3.3 wind turbines for the projects. EN 156/3.3 has a 156m rotor – the largest in the country. This rotor is coupled with a 3.3MW generator and a hub height of 140m. This design is uniquely suited to maximize energy produced from the low wind regimes predominant in the country.

Envision invested $25M USD to establish its 1200 MW-capacity nacelle and hub assembly plant at Pune in 2018. To meet the increased market demands, Envision will be ramping up to double the current capacity. Envision is also building a blade factory in India, which is expected to be completed by Q1 of 2023.

Envision’s existing projects in India, the 198MW Khagashree wind farm and 35MW Kagvard wind farm equipped with EN- 131/2.5MW wind turbines, have been in operation since May and October 2019 respectively. So far, these projects have generated more than 1.76 billion kWh clean energy for the region.

“Envision India is proud to contribute towards India’s commitment to achieve 500 GW and 50% energy requirement from renewable energy sources by 2030. With the growth of our wind and energy storage business, we are expecting to recruit more than 300 employees locally to meet the growing needs of the country as well as the newer markets of the Asia Pacific region.” says R P V Prasad, Country Head – India Region.

According to Kane Xu, Managing Director of Envision India and Global Vice President, “We are delighted with the confidence our partner in India has in us, and we are proud to continue delivering our best solutions in India. Being an expert in utilizing digital technologies, we are able to maximize efficiency, save cost, and innovate fast to better serve our customers. In addition to wind power, we are also bringing our energy storage, digital, and other net-zero solutions to our customers, to help accelerate the energy transition, globally. ”

About Envision Group

Envision Group is a world-leading green technology company and net zero technology partner. With the mission of “solving the challenges for the sustainable future of humankind”. Envision designs, sells, and operates smart wind turbines and smart storage system through Envision Energy; AIoT-powered batteries through Envision AESC; and the world’s largest AIoT operating system through Envision Digital. It also owns Envision Racing Formula E team. Envision continues to promote wind and solar power as the “new coal”, batteries and hydrogen fuel as the “new oil”, the AIoT network as the “new grid”, the net-zero industrial parks to the “new infrastructure”, and to promote the construction and cultivation of green “new industry”.

Envision Group was ranked among the Top 10 of the 2019 ‘World’s 50 Smartest Companies’ by the MIT Technology Review. In October 2021, Envision was ranked second in the world on the Fortune “Change the World” list. Envision Group joined the global ‘RE100’ initiative and became the first company in mainland China committed to 100% renewable electricity by 2025.On April 22, 2021, Envision Group announced it will achieve carbon neutral in operations by 2022 and achieve carbon neutral throughout its value chain by 2028.

For more information, please visit www.envision-group.com

Media Contact: Jessica Koerner, jessica.koerner@envision-energy.com

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How the Bahamas is growing usage of world’s first CBDC

Published by
Business Day

A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) ranked Sand Dollar, a digital iteration of the Bahamian dollar, as one of just two fully operational retail central bank digital currencies worldwide. The Sand Dollar is almost everything the Nigerian version of CBDC, the eNaira, wants to become. While the eNaira is the first CBDC in Africa, the […] read more How the Bahamas is growing usage of world’s first CBDC Continue reading “How the Bahamas is growing usage of world’s first CBDC”

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In Johannesburg, a Tale of Two Chinatowns

Vagrants doze in doorways and the smell of burning trash fills the air on Commissioner Street, a rundown and dangerous section of inner-city Johannesburg. But look carefully and an observer might notice a few pagoda-style rooftops, decrepit buildings decorated with dragons, and shop signs with faded Chinese characters.

The street is home to South Africa’s first Chinatown, which dates to the 1880s, when Chinese from the impoverished south of the country came to the frontier mining town they dubbed “gam saan,” or “Gold Mountain” to seek their fortunes – only to discover that non-whites were barred from obtaining diggers licenses.

Some stayed anyway, setting up businesses and later battling the racist apartheid laws. South Africa now has the biggest population of Chinese residents in Africa – about 350,000 people. Since the advent of the “Rainbow Nation” in 1994, when South Africa became a democracy, and in the wake of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative for building infrastructure in dozens of countries, many more Chinese have flocked to the country.

These newer migrants, mainly Mandarin speakers unlike the early Cantonese community, have set up a second Chinatown, with a giant decorative archway, in a safer middle-class suburb called Cyrildene. Here there are numerous restaurants, travel agents, retail stores and beauty salons.

“There’ve been many, many more new migrants,” Melanie Yap, a third-generation Chinese-South African, author and historian, told VOA. “The Chinese community has in fact become more vibrant, evidenced by the fact that there’s a second Chinatown.”

China is South Africa’s largest trade partner, with imports and exports totaling $54 billion last year, and the two countries – both members of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) – maintain strong diplomatic relations.

Canton to Cape

It wasn’t always this way. The very first Chinese to come to Africa arrived in the Cape colony as convicts sent from Batavia, in modern-day Indonesia, in the 1660s. After serving their sentences, some returned to Asia, while others settled in the multicultural and cosmopolitan Cape. Then, during the early 1800s, Chinese indentured laborers were brought to work on the railways for the British government.

Finally, “free” Chinese started migrating to South Africa in the late 1880s as part of the gold rush. They were, however, banned from mining. Other barriers in place because of their race also affected their ability to trade.

The Chinese teamed up with members of the Indian community in a campaign of civil disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi – who lived in South Africa at the time. “They said, ‘We will not take up violence, but we will go to prison rather than obey your law,’” Yap told VOA.

Later, under the apartheid system that began in 1948, the Chinese were classified as a sub-group of the “colored group,” a racial categorization that lumped together anyone who wasn’t black or white.

“There were only certain things that were open to you, so technically you could only go to school and live in the areas that were designated to you,” Yap explained.

Forbidden love

Under apartheid it was illegal for people from different races to marry.

That didn’t stop Yolande Dreyer, 71, and her husband Wynand, 72. Yolande – a third-generation Chinese-South African, whose grandparents from Guangzhou, China [also known as Canton] had originally immigrated to escape drought and food shortages – defied her family and the law to marry Wynand – of mixed Dutch and British heritage.

“Because we were breaking a law … they could have definitely arrested us,” she told VOA, recalling how the couple married in 1980 in a multi-step process. They first married in a church in South Africa, but the officer couldn’t sign a marriage certificate. They then traveled to England to wed to make it official.

“We were kind of breaking the mold at the time; we were pushing against quite a lot of resistance,” added Wynand, noting that both families were against the union and worried the couple’s children would be “outcasts.”

Luckily the Dreyer’s twins were raised in democratic South Africa, a racial melting pot, where mixed marriages are now common.

Identity politics

Some Chinese-South Africans are now involved in their country’s political system, such as Michael Sun, who belongs to the opposition Democratic Alliance and is a member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services department in Johannesburg.

Sun was born in Taiwan and came to South Africa as a child in the 1970s when his family arrived to set up businesses. The city councilor said growing up, he and his siblings had been questioning and exploring their identities living with two different cultures. Sun still speaks Mandarin with his parents but felt foreign when he visited Taiwan after attending university.

“I felt more like a tourist than anything else … other than the language, I was really a stranger,” Sun said. “I’m more at ease in terms of my South African lifestyle.”

Meanwhile, Chinese in South Africa are becoming victim to rising xenophobia, with some people – wary of Chinese loans and investments through Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative – accusing them of being the “new colonialists.”

Sun says he himself was the victim of racism a few years ago.

“I decided to put my name forward for the local election in 2006, and it was not easy. … I’ve been many times a victim in terms of racism, bigotry, racial slurs,” he told VOA.

Ironically, having gone from being “colored” under apartheid to being regarded as “white” after it, the Chinese Association of South Africa took the government to court in 2008 to change their racial classification.

This was in order to benefit from South Africa’s affirmative action policies in the business sector known as “Black Economic Empowerment.”

“Only Blacks, Indians and Coloreds [multiracial ethnic groups] qualified for affirmative action,” explained Yap, on why the community went to court over the issue.

“This was not economic opportunism by the Chinese, but about lack of recognition that they had for centuries faced racial injustice in South Africa,” she added.

The High Court ruled in their favor and, legally, Chinese in South Africa are now considered “Black.”

Source: Voice of America