Futures Forum: Exeter Community Energy >>> solar power share offer >>> "Support green energy on a roof near you"

Monday, 9 November 2015

Exeter Community Energy >>> solar power share offer >>> "Support green energy on a roof near you"

The community energy project in Exeter is relatively new:
Futures Forum: Exeter Community Energy launched

But it's rapidly going places:
Exeter Community Energy, ECoE, coordinates renewable energy projects

Exeter Community Energy share offer to fund solar panels across city and East Devon

By Exeter Express and Echo | Posted: November 05, 2015

People in Exeter and East Devon will have the chance to invest in a community solar power scheme which aims to combat climate change while generating financial returns.

Exeter Community Energy’s Solar PV1 community share offer launches on Saturday, November 7. It aims to raise £390,000 to fund the installation of solar panels on rooftops in and around the city.

Gill Wyatt, director of Exeter Community Energy, said: “It’s a win-win scenario. It’s a win for the owners of the roofs because they save on their energy bills. It’s a win for the shareholders because we expect to pay five per cent interest on their investment. And it strengthens the community through local people being involved in local projects, helping to combat climate change and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.”

In the first phase of the scheme, around 300kWp of solar panels are due to be installed at Exeter Library, Wonford Community and Learning Centre, Shillingford Organics, Great Moor House, Newcourt Community Centre, Pinhoe Road Baptist Church, Ashwoods Automotive, Shillingford Organics, Glasshouse Lane Medical Centre and Honiton Community Centre.

The minimum investment for anyone living in Exeter and East Devon is £50. If the offer is oversubscribed, priority will be given to investors from the local area. The first community share offer closes on Friday, November 27. Anyone investing by that date will qualify for tax relief under the Enterprise Investment Scheme. A second opportunity to invest will open in January if the scheme does not hit its £390,000 target first time around. The project is supported by a £175,000 loan from Andromeda Capital as part of the Exeter City Futures initiative, enabling two installations to be completed by the end of December to secure the existing Feed-in Tariff rate.

Under the plans £250,000 of the income from selling surplus energy will go into a community fund for local projects to promote saving energy and helping to alleviate fuel poverty.

Gill added: “When we heard about the government changes to solar industry support in July we became even more motivated to ensure that we could get locally-owned energy up and running in Exeter. Working with partners, we pre-accredited 28 rooftop solar sites for the Feed-In Tariff which gives us a year to install using FiT rates at September levels. This means we have in excess of 500kWp of solar capacity available for further share offers in the next 12 months. This is just the beginning.”

Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw said: “I’m excited that ECoE are ready to launch their first portfolio of rooftop solar and fully support their community share offer. I’ll be investing and I hope the people of Exeter can get behind this excellent initiative.”

A launch event will be held at Stephens Scown in Southernhay at 6.45pm on Tuesday, November 17. More information can be found at ecoe.org.uk.

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Exeter Community Energy share offer to fund solar panels across city and East Devon | Exeter Express and Echo

Exeter Community Energy's Solar PV1 Project - YouTube

Our Solar Power Community Share Offer is Live!

Download the Share Offer Here

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE SHARE OFFER

We’re delighted to announce that the Solar PV1 Community Share Offer is ready to go! Be part of Exeter’s first community-owned renewable energy project. Click the image on the left to download the Share Offer document now and read below to find out just how to make your investment today!

The target amount for our Solar Power Community Share Offer is £390,000 which will cover the installation of solar panels on 9 rooftops across the city. These rooftops will have a combined capacity of around300kWp of solar!

This Share Offer runs from November 7th – 27th 2015. The short period is due to the recent government changes to Tax Reliefs on investments in community energy. EIS Tax Relief expires on November 29th with no replacement for this in place. This is your very last chance, at the current time, to invest in a community solar scheme that includes EIS Tax Relief and also benefits from the higher FIT rate – all projects involved were accredited prior to the drop in subsidy on 1st October. Please see below for more details on your investment and what to do next!

The Share Offer

Please see below for the key statistics about investment in ECOEs Community Share Offer. For a table of potential earnings, please see here.

If you want to have a look at our Business Plan before investing, you can do so Here.

Rooftops

The organisations involved include several community centres, County Council buildings, a Baptist Church, a medical centre, an organic farm and a company that makes hybrid vans. Most installs are within Exeter and one in East Devon (inc. Honiton):-

The table shows the size of the installations currently planned. The A list are the roofs where all leases and legal documents are signed. These properties will have solar installed in November thanks to a bridging loan. The B List properties have confirmed their interest and are all in various states of preparation with Heads of Terms signed but leases and Power Purchase Agreements still ongoing. Each of these has an agreement in principle and we hope all will go ahead over the next months. The Devon County Council buildings – Exeter Library and Great Moorhouse – will be installed before December 31st.

How to Invest

To invest in this offer, you need to download the Share Offer document from this page.
At the back of the PDF there is an application form to complete. You can also download a separate application form HERE if needed.
Payments for investment can be made via BACS or Cheque. See below for details.

Online Applications:

You can fill out the PDF application form (this is found at the back of the Share Offer Doc) in your Web Browser, in Preview (on Apple Macs Only) or using Adobe Reader – if you have this free programme on your computer
If this does not work upload it on to PDF Filler a simple online portal for filling out PDFs.
You can then save the document and email it back to us at info@ecoe.org.uk.
Alternatively, if these options do not work for you, you can print out the form, fill it out by hand and scan it back on to the computer and email it to us at the address above.
For Online Applications you need to make a BACS payment to us for the amount being invested.
The BACS payment needs to have a reference on it that matches the reference you put on your application form.
Please ensure you make BACS payment before sending back the application form. All payment details are on the form.

Postal Applications

If you wish to pay by cheque you can download and print out the application form (part of the Share Offer document).
Fill it in, sign it and send it back to us with a cheque made out to Exeter Community Energy Ltd to: ECOE Ltd, 3 Redhills, Exeter, Devon, EX4 1TP

Launch Event : November 17th in Exeter

Our share offer launch event will be on Tues 17th Nov at the offices of Stephens Scown Solicitors, Curzon House, Exeter from 6.45pm. The event will start with networking and then include presentations, music and refreshments. We’ll also be organising local launch events at installation sites, watch out for news of these.

More background information about Solar PV 1 below

Solar PV1 Information

ECOE brings people together who are interested in building a sustainable low carbon future through community-owned renewable energy projects. Our first community-owned project will be a 300kWp solar PV installation in Exeter or nearby. The investment needed is expected to be approx £390,000. This will be raised by a community share offer that will be launched as soon as roofs have been identified and leases progressed sufficiently. Local people are invited to invest in the project, share in the returns (hoped to be 5% over the lifetime of the project) and be part of an innovative project with multiple benefits – environmental, economic, social and political.

The revenue is generated from the sale of electricity to the occupier of the building, the Government feed-in-tariff scheme and the export of electricity to the national grid. This will cover ECOE’s overheads; and to maximise the community benefit from Solar PV 1, our aim is to pay equal amounts into a community fund and to our shareholders over the 20 years of the project. The income from this fund will build and support other energy related schemes for the local community and become like a revolving fund thus creating a mushroom-like effect.

We are currently talking to a range of people, community groups and other organisations to develop these plans and find suitable roof(s). Our partners could be community organisations, schools, hospitals, churches or local businesses that have a roof to lease to us. The roof needs to face southeast, south or southwest and a pitched rather than flat roof is ideal.

We will be building and commissioning the installation as soon as we have a portfolio of roofs suitably progressed. It will provide a source of local renewable electricity for a minimum of 20 years afterwards.

Future projects
Part of the money generated by Solar PV 1 will be reinvested in more renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and a community fund will be set up for other community energy projects.

ECoE Projects
Exeter Community Energy | Transition Exeter
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