The metered energy lease model

1.Abstract

CimpleFi leases electricity-producing capacity — kilowatts of operating solar and battery plants — to members who pay a one-time, nonrefundable lease fee. The lessee's share of the plant's actual, metered generation accrues daily as energy credits (kWh), which the lessee may hold or sell at a contracted tariff fixed for the lease term. Settlement pays out in USDC, net of disclosed operating fees. There is no principal, no promised return, and no redemption: proceeds follow the meters.

The pilot fleet operates today: residential solar and hybrid plants across Nigeria, reporting through vendor telemetry (Growatt and Felicity clouds), aggregated into a fleet ledger that drives credit accrual. Capacity is not a nameplate claim — it is derived from measured generation.

2.The energy lease model

An energy lease is five steps:

1. Lease fee. The member pays a one-time, nonrefundable fee in USDC for a term (currently 12 months).
2. Capacity allocation.The fee buys kilowatts of an operating plant. Capacity price derives from the plant's parameters — forecast generation, contracted tariff, operating costs, and margin — set per lot (VPP) by the operator. Duration scales allocation: the same fee buys more kilowatts over a shorter term, holding the electricity outcome comparable.
3. Metered accrual.Each completed day, the plant's metered generation is apportioned to each lease by capacity share, accruing as energy credits.
4. Hold or sell. Credits accumulate until the member sells them. Holding has no penalty; the tariff is fixed for the lease.
5. Settlement. Selling settles credits × contracted tariff − operating fees, paid in USDC. Fees are itemized on every settlement statement.

Two properties are definitional. First, the fee is spent — it purchased capacity, and no principal exists anywhere in the product. Second, every estimate presented to members is illustrative, derived from forecast generation; actual proceeds follow measured output.

3.Metering and the fleet ledger

Every plant reports through its vendor cloud (Growatt OpenAPI; Felicity Shine). A background scheduler captures fleet generation hourly and records each day's total — per plant and in aggregate — into a persistent ledger. Dataloggers that stop reporting are detected (staleness checks on vendor timestamps) and surfaced as offline rather than silently estimated. Plants with broken energy counters fall back to server-side integration of measured power. Public telemetry is open to anyone: the same meters that drive investor credits power the public dashboard.

4.Capacity derivation

Inverter nameplates say nothing about array size — residential installations routinely pair large hybrid inverters with small panel arrays. CimpleFi therefore publishes no nameplate capacity. Published capacity is derived from metering: average daily generation divided by the month's expected solar resource for the region (peak-sun-hours × a 0.75 performance ratio covering soiling, temperature, wiring and conversion losses). Term forecasts use the annual-average resource, held constant year-round, so quotes do not drift with seasons. The derivation recomputes automatically as metering history accumulates, and its basis is always disclosed.

5.Energy credits and settlement

A credit is one metered kilowatt-hour attributable to a lease's share of plant capacity. Credits accrue from completed metering days. Selling settles at the lease's fixed contracted tariff less time-based operating fees and the operator margin; the statement itemizes gross, fees, and net. Settlement currently records to CimpleFi's ledger with USDC payouts; on-chain settlement is on the roadmap (§9). The contracted tariff is set per lot when listed and never changes for the life of a lease.

6.Risk allocation

• Production risk sits with the lessee, both ways. Below-forecast generation means fewer credits; above-forecast means more. No floor, no cap.
• The fee is sunk. Nonrefundable; capacity was delivered.
• The operator carries the plant.Maintenance, monitoring, collections, insurance, and the grid energy used by storage — the operator absorbs O&M beyond the fees charged to lessors.
• Structure. Plants sit in SPVs isolated from the operating company, so leases survive operator restructuring; equipment is covered by operator-carried all-risk insurance.

7.Catalyst membership

Catalyst is the planned membership NFT. It is an access pass, separate from any infrastructure lease: priority access to lease offerings, and the preferred higher-tariff energy-market tier. The NFT itself confers no revenue rights. Non-members may access a standard market tier. Final terms publish before the mint.

8.CIMP

CIMP is the proposed ecosystem utility token, with use cases being designed around platform fees and energy-credit settlement. These features remain subject to final technical, commercial and legal design; nothing in the current product depends on CIMP.

9.Roadmap

1. Genesis phase (now). Live metered pilot fleet; 12-month capacity leases with code-gated membership; ledger-recorded settlement.
2. Chain phase. Wallet sign-in and Catalyst NFT gating; on-chain settlement of credit sales with USDC escrow; independent smart-contract audits published.
3. Expansion. New VPP lots as capacity is verified; additional sectors (agriculture, education) under the same metered-lease model, when they can be metered as honestly as energy.

10.Risk factors and disclosures

• Generation varies with weather, season, equipment availability and operations. Estimates are illustrative and may not be achieved.
• Credit value depends on the contracted tariff and the availability of settlement; nothing is guaranteed.
• USDC and digital-asset exposure carry their own risks, including custody, peg and regulatory risk.
• Counterparty and operational risk: the plants are operated by a third-party partner under SPV structures.
• Regulatory treatment of capacity leases and associated instruments remains subject to determination; the model may be adapted as guidance develops.

This document describes a working pilot and a planned roadmap. It is not an offer to sell, a solicitation, investment advice, or a promise of financial returns. All products remain subject to final terms, compliance review, and availability.