In just 3 weeks since the launch of a share offer, over £360,000 pounds has been raised to enable the launch, today 22 March, of Energy Prospects a development fund co-operative that will provide capital to community projects to take them through the costly stages leading to obtaining planning permission for a wind farm. The share offer aims to raise 1 million by its closing date of 26th May, but had regarded £350,000 as a minimum sum to operate successfully.
Energy Prospects is intended to help overcome a major barrier to the further expansion of community energy co-operatives in the UK namely the lack of access to funds and resources to take a potential project through the planning process. Funds will therefore be available to enable, for example, environmental surveys, archaeological assessments, wind energy assessments, and all the other component stages that go into what is typically a very full and detailed planning application. Upon receiving planning permission, the projects will raise share capital through their own share offers, whilst paying Energy Prospects a fee.
Energy Prospects will itself be co-operatively owned and run, and the share issue still underway offers investors the opportunity to invest between 500 and 20,000 in the co-operative. Importantly, approval has been given by HMRC to this investment qualifying for Enterprise Investment Scheme tax relief.
Said Rod Blunden, Chairman of Energy Prospects, after chairing Energy Prospects first board meeting, Hitting our minimum target in such a short time demonstrates the real enthusiasm for co-operatively owned renewable energy generation in the UK. We have the best wind resource in Europe, but progress in community ownership of this resource has been slow. In our first board meeting we have begun the process of progressing a number of wind farm projects across the UK that require development capital. Im confident we will soon be able to announce that weve closed the share offer with the full 1million having been raised.
Andrew King, chair of Energy4All, the social enterprise behind the creation of Energy Prospects, added Were looking forward to adding to the family of seven wind energy co-operatives already launched. Energy Prospects now makes this possible. The success of our share launch just underlines once again the latent demand for this form of ownership. I would also like to thank the Co-operative Group for, once again, their generous help in supporting the financing of our share offer as so often in the past they have provided generous backing to our development.
The share offer will close on 26th May 2010 earlier if the maximum capital sum of 1 million is reached, or later if extended at the boards discretion. Enterprise Investment Scheme status enables the investor to obtain full tax relief on the investment made, together with capital gains / loss advantages.
