reeves hill windfarm
News
A Statement by Energy For All.
Community ownership option
As part of the package of community benefit measures proposed for the Reeves Hill project it is intended that one of the turbines will be owned and run by a local community co-operative.
This will be organised by Energy4All who are the UK's leading social enterprise promoting community ownership of renewable energy through a co-operative model.
Co-operatives work on democratic principles with one vote per member, regardless of the individual's investment, and a board elected by the members to run the co-op.
Energy4All has a well-established track record of successful community ownership schemes and a well-proven business model; this works as follows for a project like Reeves Hill:-
If planning permission is granted, Bolsterstone will develop and build the project, which is designed so that one of the turbines can be operated separately if necessary.
Energy4All creates a local co-operative and sponsors a public share offer approved by the FSA, to raise capital from individuals and organisations in the area. The maximum investment is £20,000 and the minimum is £250. Investors who put in at least £500 will usually be eligible for a tax rebate of 20% of their investment from Revenue and Customs under the Enterprise Investment Scheme.
Assuming the share offer raises the required amount and additional finance can be raised from bank borrowing as necessary, the co-op then purchases one or more turbines from the developer at a pre-agreed price to reflect the developer's costs of bringing the project to this point. It is likely that the site will be run as a single entity with close co-operation between the two parts, but the net profit from the co-operative turbines goes to pay an attractive annual return to the members and to fund any local projects that the members decide to support. At the end of the project the members have their capital returned by the co-op.
Similar schemes in both England and Scotland have proved very popular with thousands of people joining the co-ops and engaging positively with renewable energy generation. Returns to date have proved both reliable and attractive, and a range of community environmental projects has benefited from a small levy on the co-ops' income.
The Reeves Hill project will have the first community co-op owning renewable energy generation in the W. Midlands.
For further information visit http://www.energy4all.co.uk/. This will lead you to sites for the operational community co-ops.
