Fast Track firm launches £2.5m crowdfunding initiative
RENEWABLES firms have partnered in a Trillion Fund crowdfunding initiative for wind energy projects.
Yorkshire residents will be able to share the returns of small-scale wind farms by investing as little as £50.
The E5 raise was launched in January 2015 by turbine manufacturer Endurance Wind Power, the UK’s biggest social crowdfunding platform Trillion Fund, and Wetherby-based Earthmill, one of the country’s largest turbine installers and on The Sunday Times Fast Track.
There has already reportedly been significant appetite for the £2.5 million scheme: 223 people have so far invested close to £1 million in E5 energy, with 20 of these investors coming from Yorkshire.
The small wind energy schemes are single installations in rural locations up and down the country that power a single site, such as a farm or business park, offsetting energy costs and generating new revenues that enable local businesses to thrive.
In August 2014, the team successfully raised £1.25m for E2 Energy, a Yorkshire-based 5-turbine scheme.
The raise was oversubscribed and closed six weeks early, having attracted more than 250 investors, 13% of which were local to Yorkshire.
To meet demand, the E5 raise is twice the size and will be used to build up to 10 new community-scale wind turbines, six of which are located in Yorkshire. The loan will be secured against up to 10 existing small-scale turbines.
These 10 new turbines will generate enough clean energy to power more than 500 average homes, while also helping the UK meet its clean energy targets.
Robert West, a biostatistician at the University of Leeds, invested in E5 both to supplement his pension pot once he retires and for the local benefits.
He says: “I have less than ten years until I retire. My university pension scheme is quite good but I do look for alternatives. I like a variety. The thing that is nice with investing in renewables – and I have done it a few times now, is that there are different projects that are financed in different ways. There is a mix of long and short term loans and investments.
“It isn’t really clear what is happening with interest rates at the moment and people like me are looking for better returns. But for me, this is more of an ethical investment. I have invested in two or three of these, just a little bit at a time.
“One of the fun things for me is the local benefits. I noticed that the turbines in the security and some of those being built were to be located in Yorkshire and Teeside. It does make a bit of a difference. The thrill is that I can drive past them and think ‘that’s one of mine’.
The E5 loan differs from other peer-to-peer loans because it is asset-backed. Because the loan is secured against existing assets, some of the risk of lending is removed.
The returns paid to lenders come from Feed-in Tariffs and electricity prices, which are paid by power companies for the energy the turbines generate.
