SSE is to establish a new community co-investment scheme which will give community groups the chance to invest in onshore wind projects currently in the planning system in Argyll and Bute and the Highlands.
The key elements of the scheme include:
· The opportunity for communities to acquire a stake of up to 10% in a local wind farm.
· The community raising their own capital and then through their investment securing a percentage (up to 10%) of the net revenue stream for the whole wind farm;
· The community securing a long term revenue stream over 25 years. Modelling based on typical loan financing options indicates that communities should generate profit each year even while loans are being repaid.
Any benefits received through co-investment would be in addition to SSE’s long established community benefit approach which provides communities with £5,000 per MW per year over the lifetime of the wind farm.
SSE intends to pilot this approach on its proposed Strathy South wind farm in North Sutherland, should it be consented, and hs been approached by Melness and Tongue Community Development Trust to further explore the opportunity. The aim is that the community trust will act as an umbrella for other organisations in the area.
Colin Nicol, Director of Onshore Renewables at SSE said: “As we continue to strive to be a responsible developer of renewable energy we have learnt that local people can be very engaged about the way in which their energy is generated and many of our projects have benefitted from this engagement.
“But we have also come across communities who want to have more than just a say in other peoples’ renewable developments – they want to take part.
“Ambitions for growth in community ownership of renewable energy assets inScotlandare being held back by a number of factors. Limited availability of development sites, lack of expertise and affordable commercial finance are all meaning that the Scottish government’s target of 500MW of community owner renewable energy is proving difficult to meet.
“The co-investment model we are establishing is designed to respond to both these ambitions; giving communities the chance to be involved in strong, viable renewable projects in a way that minimises the risk and at a level they are able to raise the capital for.
“We hope to learn from this initial pilot and that in due course can open up the opportunity for other SSE projects acrossScotlandbeing developed in partnership with communities that have a genuine stake in the success of our projects.”
Simon Lee, Strategic Business Development Manager with Melness and Tongue Community Development Trust said: "We are very excited by this opportunity to work with SSE. A reliable and sustainable income stream will enable us to plan; to plan for the realisation of our ambitions and to reap real benefits in terms of community wellbeing and economic development."