Scottish wind farm launches community share offer

‘The renewables society will create a fund for the benefit of the local community closest to the wind farm’

Auchrobert wind farm in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, is launching a community share offer aiming to raise £1,500,000 – and bring benefits to the local community.

Auchrobert Community Energy Society has been formed to issue the share offer and enable local people own a stake in the wind farm. It is working with established social enterprise Energy4All to enable greater community involvement in the wind farm, allowing the public to own part of the project. 

Local people in South Lanarkshire and renewable energy supporters nationwide can purchase shares from as little as £100. Share interest will be paid on an annual basis, dependent on the amount of energy produced by the wind farm.

Auchrobert wind farm has been developed and built by Falck Renewables Wind Ltd and comprises twelve GE 3.2MW wind turbines with a total export capacity of 36MW. The wind farm is expected to produce enough clean energy to power approximately 26,000 homes. 

Director Jim Lee said, “We have recruited some local directors who will be helping to get as many local people as possible involved in this share offer. Looking to the future, the renewables society will create a fund for the benefit of the local community closest to the wind farm site.” 

Erin Hunter, Falck Renewables’ community relations manager, said: “We have always been determined as a company to offer local people the chance to have a stake in their local wind farm and have developed similar schemes for most of our previous developments in the UK.”

The share offer is open until 6 November 2019. To find out more visit www.auchrobert.coop.