Are you struggling to buy a gift for the person who has everything this Christmas? How about a piece of a new Tayside solar farm.
Dundee Renewable Energy Society is seeking to raise £3 million for its project – with the amount people can invest in shares ranging from £100 to £50,000.
The ground-mounted 2.6 megawatt solar farm will be erected at Bullionfield on the western edge of Dundee.
A connection will be fed with cables running under the A90 to the James Hutton Institute in Invergowrie which will use the power generated.
Days for Dundee Renewable Energy Society to raise £2.46 million
The share offering started earlier this month. The first phase aims to raise £2.46m by December 20.
This is required so contracts can be signed and the schedule to start generating power in May next year can be delivered.
As of last night £620,378 has been raised with just over a week until the deadline.
Dundee Renewable Energy Society chairman Richard McCready said he is “pleased” at the response so far.
He said that although he wanted to get as close as possible to the target, there are “organisations in the wings” who could provide loans for any shortfall.
Investors will receive a return of 2.5% interest from share being issues in January until the commissioning date in May 2024.
The projected rate of return then starts at 7% a year for the first four years, then 6% thereafter.
A second round of fundraising, for approximately £500,000, will take place next year.
Benefits beyond a financial return
The plans started in a Dundee cafe six years ago among people looking to set up a solar co-operative.
The meeting was inspired by an Edinburgh co-op which installed solar panels on the roofs of public buildings. Why couldn’t something similar be achieved in Scotland’s sunniest city?
James Hutton Institute, which has its own decarbonisation mission, was keen to play a key role.
It owns the land at Bullionfield and expects the solar farm to generate around 20% of its power needs at Invergowrie.
But Mr McCready said the benefits go beyond a financial return for investors.
Surplus profits from the project are projected to total around £1.4m in community benefits.
“Each shareholder will have a vote on where this money goes,” he said.
“It will start of in the tens of thousands and increase throughout the 25-year timescale. It’s not an insignificant amount.
“This is why we want as many people as possible, especially local people from Dundee, and the Carse of Gowrie, to buy shares.
“All members, no matter how much they have subscribed, have an equal vote in running the society.
“It will help with James Hutton’s expansion plans and hopefully help create, or at least help protect, jobs.”
Ambitious climate action plan
Planning permission for the project was granted by Dundee City and Perth and Kinross councils last year.
Alasdair Cox, director of operations at the James Hutton Institute, adds: “This is an exciting development for the Hutton and we are delighted to be working in partnership with Dundee Renewable Energy Society.
“It builds on our ambitious climate action plan where we are trying to increase our use of renewable energy.”
Dundee Renewable Energy Society is being supported an assisted by Energy4All Ltd with the share offer.
More than £85 million has been raised for Energy4All’s community-owned renewable energy generation co-operatives at locations throughout the UK.
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