About Focal Energy
The energy partner accountable for the result
Focal Energy is a Gauteng-based commercial energy partner. We engineer, finance, build and operate solar and battery infrastructure for businesses, and stay responsible for its performance for the life of the asset.
Who we are
One team, from first model to year twenty-five
Commercial energy projects can involve several different parties: a developer, financier, EPC contractor, equipment suppliers and an O&M provider. When those responsibilities are split, it can become difficult to know who is ultimately accountable for the result.
Focal Energy was structured differently. The team that models the project is involved in financing, building and operating it, with performance reported every month. There is no handover where responsibility disappears.
The result is a fleet of 40+ commercial systems across Gauteng and beyond, 17 of them published as full case studies, so a prospective client can check our numbers against real assets, not projections.
Leadership
A message from our Managing Director
We take a long-term view of the systems we build.
A commercial solar and battery system is expected to operate for 20–25 years. We don’t think our responsibility ends when the installation is complete.
If we say a system should produce a certain amount of energy, deliver a certain saving or achieve a particular return, we want to be able to show you how it is performing against those expectations. That is why we monitor the systems we operate and report on performance every month, including when the numbers don’t go to plan.
Where we finance a project or build it in partnership, we also have our own capital at risk. We believe that matters. It means we have a financial interest in the system performing as designed, not just in getting it installed.
We share the numbers with our clients so they can see what is actually happening, and so we can be held accountable for the results.
Jonathan de Vrye
BSc Eng · Managing Director, Focal Energy
How we work
Design. Finance. Build. Operate.
Four responsibilities, one accountable party. Each stage is connected to the next, so the assumptions made at the beginning aren't lost when the project moves into delivery and operation.
Design
Every engagement starts with your interval meter data. We model how the site actually consumes energy, assess the available solar and storage opportunity, and design around the site's electrical, physical and grid constraints. We then build the financial model — payback, IRR and year-one savings — before any capital is committed. If the model says your site shouldn't build, we tell you that too.
Finance
Self-funded, PPA or partnership. Each structure places capital, risk, responsibility and reward differently. The decision is about how you want to hold the asset, not just how to pay for it. We offer finance because we are willing to put our own capital behind what we design and build.
Build
Solar PV, battery storage and the electrical infrastructure around them — engineered, installed and commissioned to the requirements of the site, the grid and the financial model. The quality of the build shapes how the system performs in year fifteen, and we build knowing we are the ones who will operate it.
Operate
24/7 remote monitoring, preventative maintenance and monthly reports that show performance as it is, good month or bad. We operate every system knowing we are accountable for the result: when performance drifts from what was designed, finding the cause and fixing it is our job.
Principles
How we make decisions
These are the standards we use when we design, finance, build and operate a system.
Measured, not estimated
Systems are sized using your actual consumption data, and performance is measured against actual production. Where we are working with a model — payback, IRR or projected savings — we make that clear and show you the assumptions behind it.
Skin in the game
Through PPAs and partnership agreements, we hold a financial stake in many of the systems we build. That means our interests don't end when the system is commissioned. We have our own capital exposed to its long-term performance.
We operate what we build for the life of the asset
Responsibility for a system shouldn't end at commissioning. We stay involved in the operation and performance of the assets we build, so the people making the design decisions are also the people who have to live with the consequences.
A decision you can stand behind
Solar and battery projects are capital allocation decisions. Our proposals are built so that the assumptions, economics and risks can be understood and challenged by the people making that decision. You should be able to understand what you are committing to, why the numbers work and what could cause them not to.
Why Focal
A partner for the long term
The right energy partner shouldn’t disappear after construction. They should be there when the system performs better than expected, when it doesn’t, when tariffs change, when the business changes and when a decision needs to be made about the asset years later.
That’s the relationship we are building Focal Energy around.
Our clients should always know who is responsible, where the numbers came from and who they can call when they need an answer.
The fleet
The record we're measured against
These figures come from systems we have delivered and continue to monitor and operate.
40+
Commercial projects delivered
10MW+
Installed capacity
30+ GWh
Energy produced to date
17
Projects with published performance data
Seventeen of these projects are open to scrutiny: from 53 kWp to 778 kWp, mostly across Gauteng. Browse the case studies →
See what your site could save.
Tell us your monthly electricity usage and we’ll model your consumption, system options and payback. Numbers you can rely on.