An exciting opportunity has arisen – you can become part of the green energy revolution which has seen a commercially developed wind farm come under community ownership.
In July of this year, three Renewable Energy Co-ops, Energy Prospects, together with High Winds and Baywind, and with the support of the ethical finance company Thrive Renewables, acquired the Mean Moor wind farm, 3 x 2.3MW Enercon turbines across the valley from the existing High Winds turbines at Harlock Hill in south Cumbria.
It is thought this is the first time that a community organisation has purchased a wind farm from a developer.
An opportunity to join
To raise funds towards the purchase of Mean Moor wind farm Energy Prospects is offering members of the public the opportunity to invest in a Loan Note paying 4.5% per annum. It is intended that the Loan Note will be repayable after a maximum of 3 years, at a time when the Mean Moor finances will be restructured and it is anticipated that Energy Prospects’ loan to the Mean Moor project will be repaid.
The minimum subscription is £500 and the maximum £50,000. This Offer will close on 18 December 2017 (unless extended by the Directors). For further information visit www.energyprospects.coop.
The offer was launched on Wednesday 15th November and as of Friday 17th November, the total raised stood at 355,000, that’s just over 12% of the total needed.
Rod Blunden, chair of Energy Prospects said:
"We are delighted that we have been able to acquire the wind farm at Mean Moor. It is important that co-ops work together and show communities that individual people can make a difference to climate change. The Loan Note offer will provide the opportunity for more individuals to get involved in community owned renewable energy”.
Energy Prospects Co-operative
The aim of the Energy Prospects Co-op is distinctly different from Energy4All‘s existing co-ops; it is designed to fund an earlier stage in a projects development and thereby to expand the number of projects available for community ownership. The immediate aim is to raise development capital for a portfolio of projects selected by the (completely independent) board of Energy Prospects Co-operative. The idea is that once a project has achieved planning consent, the project co-op will run its own share issue in the usual way, to pay Energy Prospects Co-operative its fee and subsequently build and operate the project.