SolarIQ Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice explains how SolarTech Energy-UK Limited, trading as SolarIQ, collects, uses, discloses, stores and otherwise processes personal data in connection with the SolarIQ platform, website, applications, communications, transaction processes and related services.

SolarTech Energy-UK Limited is a company incorporated in England and Wales under company number 17412990, with registered office at No1 Capital Quarter, Tyndall Street, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 4BZ.

In this Privacy Notice, "SolarIQ", "we", "us" and "our" refer to SolarTech Energy-UK Limited.

For the purposes of applicable UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR") and the Data Protection Act 2018, SolarIQ is the controller of personal data where it determines the purposes and means for which that personal data is processed.

In certain circumstances, SolarIQ may process personal data solely on behalf of another organisation, for example where a Project Owner or Investor uploads personal data to a restricted transaction workspace and determines how that personal data is to be used. In those circumstances, SolarIQ may act as a processor and the relevant organisation will ordinarily be the controller. Further details are set out in clause 4.

This Privacy Notice should be read together with the SolarIQ Platform Terms of Use, any applicable Cookie Notice, transaction-specific privacy information and any other privacy information provided to you when your personal data is collected.

This Privacy Notice applies to individuals whose personal data is processed by SolarIQ in connection with its business or the Platform.

This may include visitors to our website, registered users, directors, officers, employees and representatives of Project Owners, developers, investors, funders, lenders, advisers, service providers and other organisations using or interacting with SolarIQ.

It may also apply to prospective users, business contacts, professional advisers, counterparties, representatives of potential counterparties and individuals whose information appears in Project documentation, due-diligence materials, transaction records or other information lawfully submitted to the Platform.

The Platform is designed primarily for business, professional and institutional use and is not intended as a consumer or retail investment platform.

The personal data processed by SolarIQ will depend upon your relationship with us, the Services you use and the relevant Project or Transaction.

SolarIQ may obtain personal data directly from you, from the organisation you represent or from another authorised Platform user.

We may also receive personal data from counterparties, Project Owners, Investors, advisers, service providers and other persons involved in a Project or Transaction.

Where appropriate, information may be obtained from publicly available or commercially available sources, including Companies House and other corporate registries, planning records, land or property information, professional databases, credit-information services, sanctions and compliance sources, grid or energy-sector information, mapping services and other public or commercial datasets.

We may also generate information from your interaction with the Platform, including technical logs, audit records, Project assessments, matching information, security information and Platform analytics.

Where personal data is obtained from a source other than you, we will process it only where we have an appropriate lawful basis and subject to applicable transparency requirements.

SolarIQ processes personal data only where there is a lawful basis for doing so.

The lawful basis applicable to a particular activity depends upon the nature and context of the processing.

Where we rely upon legitimate interests, those interests may include operating and developing the SolarIQ business, facilitating legitimate business transactions, protecting users and Project information, maintaining Platform security, preventing fraud and abuse, establishing commercial relationships, improving Services and protecting or enforcing legal rights.

Where required, we consider the nature of the personal data, the reasonable expectations of the individual, the necessity of the processing and the potential effect of the processing upon the individual's rights and interests before relying upon legitimate interests.

Where consent is used as the lawful basis, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing undertaken before consent was withdrawn.

Certain personal data is required in order for SolarIQ to establish an Account, enter into or administer a contractual relationship, verify a user, provide particular Services or comply with legal or security requirements.

Where information is required for those purposes and is not provided, we may be unable to establish or maintain an Account, provide access to particular functionality, permit access to a Project or Data Room or provide the requested Service.

Other information may be optional. Where information is optional, this will ordinarily be apparent from the circumstances in which it is requested.

SolarIQ does not ordinarily require users to provide special category personal data such as information concerning health, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, political opinions, trade-union membership, genetic or biometric information or information concerning a person's sex life or sexual orientation.

Users should not upload such information unless it is genuinely necessary for a lawful Project, Transaction, compliance or due-diligence purpose and they have lawful authority to do so.

Certain compliance, litigation, fraud-prevention or due-diligence processes may exceptionally result in SolarIQ processing information relating to alleged or actual criminal offences or other specially protected information.

Where such information is processed, SolarIQ will do so only where an appropriate lawful basis and any additional condition required by Applicable Law are satisfied.

SolarIQ may use artificial intelligence, machine-learning technologies and automated systems to assist with the operation of the Platform.

These systems may process personal data in order to extract or classify information, summarise documents, identify missing information or inconsistencies, support Project assessments, calculate Platform indicators, identify possible risks, support Project-to-Investor matching, prioritise workflows or recommend possible next actions.

Any score, classification or automated output generated by SolarIQ is intended to support professional review and transaction workflows.

SolarIQ does not intend to use solely automated processing to make decisions about an individual which produce legal effects or similarly significant effects upon that individual unless SolarIQ has identified an appropriate lawful basis, implemented the safeguards required by Applicable Law and provided any additional information required to the affected individual.

A Project Owner, Investor, lender, funder or other independent organisation may make its own decision concerning a Project or individual using information available through the Platform. Such an organisation may act as a separate controller and SolarIQ is not responsible for the independent decision-making practices of another controller.

Where material, users should verify AI-generated information against source documents rather than treating an automated output as independently verified fact.

The Platform may analyse Project data and Investor mandate information to identify potential compatibility between Projects and Investors.

In carrying out this processing, SolarIQ may consider information such as investment geography, Project technology, capacity, stage of development, transaction structure, investment size, commercial characteristics and other mandate or Project criteria.

These processes are intended to facilitate business-to-business Project evaluation and matching.

A Match Score, Project Score, Investment Ready designation or similar Platform output does not constitute a credit rating, investment recommendation or determination concerning the personal financial circumstances of an individual.

SolarIQ does not sell personal data to advertisers.

We may disclose personal data where reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice.

This may include disclosure to authorised Project Owners, Investors, funders, buyers, sellers, transaction counterparties, professional advisers and service providers where such disclosure forms part of an authorised Project or Transaction process.

Access to information within the Platform may be controlled by permissions, Transaction stage, confidentiality status, NDA status or other applicable access rules.

We may also disclose personal data to companies providing technology hosting, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, communications, customer-support, identity-verification, analytics, document-processing, payment, accounting, professional and other operational services to SolarIQ.

Such providers may act as processors, sub-processors or independent controllers depending upon the relevant service.

Personal data may also be disclosed to our professional advisers, including lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurers and consultants, where reasonably necessary.

We may disclose information to courts, regulators, law-enforcement bodies, tax authorities, governmental authorities or other competent bodies where required by law or where disclosure is reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights, prevent fraud or protect legitimate interests.

We may also disclose personal data to members of our corporate group where reasonably necessary and lawful for administration, security, service provision, corporate governance or other legitimate business purposes.

If SolarIQ or any relevant part of its business is subject to a proposed investment, financing, merger, acquisition, restructuring, sale, transfer or other corporate transaction, personal data may be disclosed to prospective investors, purchasers, lenders, advisers and other transaction participants where reasonably necessary for evaluating or completing that transaction.

Any recipient will be expected to handle the information in accordance with applicable confidentiality and data-protection requirements.

Following a corporate transaction, personal data may be transferred to the relevant successor or acquiring organisation where permitted by law.

SolarIQ is established in the United Kingdom. However, some of our service providers, counterparties, advisers or other recipients may operate outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal data is transferred to a country outside the United Kingdom and that transfer is subject to the UK international-transfer regime, SolarIQ will use a lawful transfer mechanism.

Depending upon the relevant destination and circumstances, this may include reliance upon UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to approved standard contractual clauses, another legally recognised safeguard or an applicable statutory derogation.

Where required, SolarIQ may also assess the protections applicable in the destination country and implement supplementary contractual, technical or organisational safeguards.

You may contact us using the details in clause 26 if you require further information about the safeguards applicable to a particular international transfer.

SolarIQ may provide controlled Data Rooms and other restricted transaction workspaces.

Information made available through those environments may be accessible to authorised users of other organisations where access has been granted by or on behalf of the relevant Project Owner, SolarIQ or another authorised party.

SolarIQ may maintain audit records concerning access to those environments, including records of document views, uploads, downloads where enabled, invitations, access permissions and access revocation.

These records may be processed for transaction administration, security, evidential purposes, confidentiality enforcement, dispute management and Platform integrity.

Users should not upload unnecessary personal data to a Data Room and should take particular care before uploading identity documents, employment information, signatures, banking details or other information relating to third parties.

SolarIQ may use business contact information to communicate with existing and prospective users, customers, Project Owners, Investors, partners and other professional market participants about SolarIQ, relevant services, opportunities, events or developments.

Where the recipient is a business contact and Applicable Law permits marketing without prior consent, SolarIQ may rely upon legitimate interests for the processing of the relevant personal data, subject to appropriate consideration of the individual's rights and reasonable expectations.

Where consent is required under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 ("PECR") or other Applicable Law, SolarIQ will seek the necessary consent or rely upon another legally permitted mechanism where applicable.

Every individual has the right to object at any time to the use of their personal data for direct marketing.

Where you opt out, we may retain limited information on a suppression list so that we can respect your preference and avoid contacting you again for the relevant marketing purpose.

Operational, contractual, security and Transaction-related communications are not necessarily marketing communications and may continue where reasonably required.

SolarIQ may use cookies and other storage or access technologies in connection with its website and Platform.

Certain technologies may be necessary for authentication, security, session management, user preferences or operation of the Platform.

Other technologies may be used for analytics, functionality or other purposes and will be deployed in accordance with applicable requirements under PECR and UK data-protection law.

Where consent is required, the relevant technology will not be used unless and until the required consent has been obtained.

Further information is provided in the SolarIQ Cookie Notice.

SolarIQ maintains technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or unauthorised access.

Those measures may include access controls, authentication controls, encryption where appropriate, logging, monitoring, backup arrangements, confidentiality controls, vendor-management procedures and organisational security measures.

Access to personal data is intended to be limited to persons who require it for legitimate business purposes.

No internet-based or electronic system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Accordingly, while SolarIQ takes reasonable steps to protect information, absolute security cannot be guaranteed.

If you become aware of a suspected security incident affecting your SolarIQ Account or information made available through the Platform, you should notify us promptly.

SolarIQ retains personal data only for so long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including the purposes of providing Services, maintaining appropriate business and Transaction records, complying with legal and regulatory obligations, resolving disputes and establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

The relevant retention period will depend upon the nature and context of the information.

Account and relationship information will ordinarily be retained while the relevant Account or business relationship remains active and for an appropriate period afterwards where necessary for contractual records, audit, security, taxation or legal claims.

Project and Transaction records may be retained following completion, abandonment or termination of the relevant Transaction where reasonably necessary to preserve an appropriate audit trail, evidence contractual rights, administer protected introductions or fees, respond to disputes or meet legal obligations.

Financial, invoicing and accounting records will be retained for the periods required by applicable tax, accounting and company-law requirements.

Security, access and audit records will be retained for a period proportionate to their security, evidential and operational purpose.

Where an individual has objected to direct marketing, SolarIQ may retain the minimum information necessary on a suppression list to ensure that the objection continues to be respected.

Information may be retained for longer where litigation, investigation, a legal hold, regulatory requirement or other exceptional circumstance reasonably requires it.

Where information is no longer required, SolarIQ will delete it, anonymise it or otherwise place it beyond normal operational use in accordance with applicable retention procedures.

SolarIQ may create statistics, analytics, benchmarks and other information derived from Platform activity.

Where information has been rendered anonymous such that it no longer relates to an identified or identifiable individual, it is no longer personal data for the purposes of UK data-protection law.

SolarIQ may use genuinely anonymised or aggregated information for purposes including Platform development, market analysis, benchmarking, research, analytics, commercial planning and improvement of its Services.

Where information remains capable of being linked to an identifiable individual, SolarIQ will continue to treat it as personal data.

Depending upon the circumstances and the lawful basis on which your personal data is processed, you may have the right to request access to personal data held about you and to obtain certain information concerning how it is processed.

You may also have rights to request correction of inaccurate personal data, completion of incomplete information, erasure of personal data in certain circumstances, restriction of processing, portability of certain information and objection to certain processing.

Where processing is based upon consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

Where applicable law gives you rights in relation to qualifying automated decision-making, you may also exercise those rights in accordance with that law.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to exemptions or limitations. For example, SolarIQ may be required to retain certain information notwithstanding an erasure request where retention is necessary to comply with law, protect the rights of another person or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before responding to a rights request.

Where SolarIQ processes information solely as a processor on behalf of another controller, we may refer your request to the relevant controller or assist that controller in responding to your request.

You have the right to object at any time to the processing of your personal data for direct-marketing purposes. If you object, SolarIQ will stop using your personal data for that direct-marketing purpose.

Where SolarIQ relies upon legitimate interests for another type of processing, you may also have the right to object on grounds relating to your particular situation.

Where such an objection applies, we will cease the relevant processing unless we are permitted to continue under Applicable Law, including where we can demonstrate applicable compelling legitimate grounds or where processing is required for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

The Platform may contain links to or integrate with websites, software, databases or services operated by third parties.

Those third parties may process personal data as independent controllers under their own privacy notices.

SolarIQ is not responsible for the privacy practices of an independent third party merely because its service is linked to or accessible through the Platform.

You should review the privacy information provided by the relevant third party where appropriate.

SolarIQ is a professional business-to-business platform and is not directed at children.

Individuals under the age of 18 should not create a SolarIQ Account or use investment, Project or transaction functionality intended for professional users.

If you believe that personal data concerning a child has been provided to SolarIQ unnecessarily or unlawfully, please contact us so that the matter can be reviewed.

SolarIQ may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes in its Services, technology, business practices, Applicable Law or data-protection requirements.

The current version will be made available through the Platform or SolarIQ website.

Where a change is material, SolarIQ may provide additional notice through the Platform, by email or by another appropriate method.

The effective date and version number shown at the beginning of this Privacy Notice indicate when the current version took effect.

If you have a concern about the way SolarIQ uses your personal data, we ask that you contact us first so that we can investigate and respond.

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO"), the United Kingdom's data-protection supervisory authority.

The ICO can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, United Kingdom. Telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Further information concerning complaints and data-protection rights is available through the ICO's website.

Your right to complain to the ICO is not affected by first raising the matter with SolarIQ.

The controller responsible for the processing described in this Privacy Notice is:

SolarTech Energy-UK Limited, trading as SolarIQ. Company number: 17412990. Registered office: No1 Capital Quarter, Tyndall Street, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 4BZ.

Privacy enquiries and data-protection rights requests should be sent to: contact@solariq.net

You should include sufficient information for us to identify you and understand the nature of your enquiry or request.

Where appropriate, SolarIQ may request additional information reasonably necessary to verify identity before disclosing personal data or acting upon a data-protection rights request.

This Privacy Notice explains SolarIQ's processing of personal data.

It does not replace or override the SolarIQ Platform Terms of Use, any transaction-specific agreement, Data Processing Agreement, NDA, Cookie Notice or other contractual document.

Where another organisation acts as controller of personal data processed through SolarIQ, that organisation's privacy notice may also apply to its processing.

Nothing in this Privacy Notice creates contractual rights beyond those arising under Applicable Law or an applicable agreement.