Alleyroads, an affordable housing developer, had received funding from Jaltech, one of its Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) funders, to retrofit a portfolio comprising rental apartments and student accommodation recently onboarded as part of the R1.2 billion Pulse Property Group acquisition, it said in a statement yesterday.
Some of the Jaltech funding had also been allocated to install new energy-saving systems at some of the group’s current developments.
Alleyroads is an affordable housing developer in South Africa that provides off-grid power solutions at its new developments and is retrofitting existing assets as part of the group’s strategy to reduce reliance on the national power grid and save tenants money on electricity bills.
Ivan Pretorius, the founder and chief operating officer of Alleyroads, said where feasible, the firm had earmarked the full Alleyroads portfolio including properties in Cape Town, East London and KwaZulu-Natal’s South Coast to be fitted with either grid-tied solar or full off-grid solutions.
“The Jaltech funding enables us to retrofit our newly acquired and existing portfolios to reduce energy consumption in buildings, save tenants money on energy bills and reduce the group’s greenhouse gas emissions,” Pretorius said.
Pretorius explained that the group had partnered with Jaltech as they were specialists in financing solar installations for businesses and solar installers offering Power Purchase Agreements. Jaltech is an alternative investment fund manager with about R2bn of retail investors’ capital under management.
Last year, Alleyroads acquired Pulse Property Group and its portfolio of 2 200 student housing accommodation units and 1 100 affordable rental apartments across 46 developments in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, and Western Cape provinces.
Including this acquisition, Alleyroads’ portfolio comprises over 6 500 affordable apartments and student accommodation. Rental prices range from R4 000 to R6 000 per month, catering to lower-to-middle-income households with an average annual salary of about R238 000.
BUSINESS REPORT