In a first for the bitcoin industry, the Sun Exchange – a South African-based crowd-lending solar energy startup – is using the digital currency for solar energy investment, reports Ventureburn.

Using bitcoin as a transactional mechanism for investing in solar energy, the Sun Exchange is currently hosting a campaign to provide solar power to a school in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

“What makes our platform unique is that investors can finance solar energy using Bitcoin and the electricity generated by solar installation can be repaid to the investor using Bitcoin wherever they are in the world,” said Sun Exchange founder Abe Cambridge to Ventureburn.

The company has received investments from people from countries such as Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the UK. Investors receive a 10 percent internal rate of return.

“The digital currency has removed the friction and costs normally associated with international remittance,” said Cambridge. “The efficiencies of Bitcoin mean that we can make micro-payments in near real time as the electricity generated by the solar panel installation. This means that as long as the sun is shining, the investor can see their money working.”

Sw7 co-founder Odette Jones, whose Accelerate program the Sun Exchange is attending, told Ventureburn that “the school has access to sustainable energy and is less reliant on the grid and the investor has a good investment that they can keep track of with a low administrative burden. It’s a win win.”

Lorien Gamaroff, founder of the blockchain solution company Bankymoon, told Ventureburn that the Sun Exchange’s idea is an exciting application for bitcoin.

“We achieved a world first last month when we set up a project with MIT to use a Bitcoin electricity meter to pay for electricity at the school. MIT made the payment and the lights went on at the school. What The Sun Exchange has done is show yet another efficiency Bitcoin brings to transform markets, in this case clean energy investing,” said Gamaroff.

Image credit: Damien du Toit (Source: originally posted to Flickr as Waterfront panorama) (CC BY 2.0)