Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Community share issue launched at UK sports centre - Solar Power Portal

As part of Herefordshire's h.Energy Week Leominster Community Solar Co-op will launch the first share issue for community ownership of its large solar photovoltaic array on the roof of the Bridge Street Sports Centre in Leominster. The 49kW array is expected to generate enough solar electricity to save approximately 22 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

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A total of £150,000 needs to be raised through community investment to fund the installation of the solar array
The share issue, which should also be eligible for Enterprise Investment Scheme tax relief, will be open to any interested party. Investment levels begin at £250 with the limit being set at £20,000. If the scheme is oversubscribed, priority will be given to those living closest to the sports centre.

Investors should see returns averaging around 6% per year over the 25-year feed-in tariff, with their original lump sum being paid back at the end of this period. The electricity generated by the system will be used by the sports centre, or when not needed, fed into the National Grid.

Eithne George at Sharenergy said, "Community ownership means that local people have the opportunity to financially benefit from renewable energy on their doorstep.  Investing in this scheme will generally give people better returns than their savings accounts are offering and they know that without them, the project wouldn't happen".

Read more:

http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/community_share_issue_launched_at_herefordshire_sports_centre_5478/

Joy Hughes, Founder, Solar Gardens Institute http://www.solargardens.org
CEO, Solar Panel Hosting LLC http://www.solarpanelhosting.com
(719)207-3097 direct

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