Wind turbines to be built thanks to energy co-op’s fundraiser

Two wind turbines will be built on a Scottish farm after a successful crowd-funding community scheme by an energy co-op. 

Sharenergy set up The Small Wind Co-op, which ran the campaign for people to co-own turbines, earn interest and support small farms and rural communities.

After the crowd-funding was extended, the scheme beat its initial £700,000 target and raised over £1m in total.

The co-op will install two Norvento nED100 100kW machines at Kellybank farm in Inverclyde and the scheme will be the first community-funded wind project supplied by Norvento.

Ivo Arnús, Norvento director of UK business development, said: “We’re constantly working to refine our product line and service offering to ensure that we’re able to maximise the impact of becoming energy independent for a diverse range of landowners and industrial users across the UK.”

Investors can become members of the group for a minimum investment of £100 and earn returns of 4.5% to 6.5%, as well as have a say in how it is run. So far almost 300 investors have supported the project.

The Small Wind Co-op is an energy co-operative started by Sharenergy, and has helped people set up over 30 successful renewable energy organisations in the past seven years.

It will be contributing to local community funds to support others who live near the turbines, helping local people into employment and supporting community buildings.

The co-op produced a detailed share offer document at the time, which explained how the investment would work. It plans a second project on a farm in Wales.

The project will be completed by April 2017 at total cost of £1.5m. The new share offer will be launched in October.