Community Solar Share Offer - Tamar Energy Community

On Sept 14th at Tamar Energy Community (TEC) we launched our community share offer to raise £290,000 from the community to support our ‘Solar Roofs’ portfolio of renewable energy installations across the Tamar Valley.

On Oct 27th, due to the overwhelming interest in our share offer, the TEC Directors have agreed with our loan provider, the Low Carbon Society, that we can repay a further £32,000 of our loan. This additional repayment will reduce our ongoing interest payments and leave a loan balance at the end of Oct 2020 of £10,000.

This will bring the total Community Solar Share Offer sum to be raised to £322,000.

The share offer has been re-opened this afternoon. We anticipate that the additional opportunity may be subscribed for quickly.

The extended offer will be publicised nationally from Thursday morning if not fully subscribed; and the share offer will close by Saturday October 31st.

To enable as much benefit as possible to be retained locally, anyone with an interest is encouraged to find out more as soon as possible.

The offer aims to raise £332,000 by 31 Oct 2020 to support TEC’s existing portfolio of community-owned rooftop solar arrays. These Solar Roofs are generating green energy from the sun, in and around the Tamar Valley. Any excess income is transferred to TEC’s community benefit fund which is used to help address energy efficiency and fuel poverty in the area.

The share offer provides an opportunity for co-ownership of the Solar Roofs portfolio, and receiving a fair return for your investment. You can find out more here or click on the image below.

From just £250 local people can support community-owned, low-carbon energy generation whilst targeting a financial return of up to 5%, subject to the risks set out in solar share offer document available here.

In 2016 and 2017, TEC installed six arrays of solar PV panels on the roofs of local schools and businesses in the area. These Solar Roofs generate over 250,000kWh of solar electricity per year – the equivalent to the annual energy demand of around 70 average UK homes. What’s more, the electricity generated by the Solar Roofs is expected to displace over 230 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Surplus income from the solar energy generated from the installations is reinvested into the community, through TEC’s community benefit fund. This funding helps the disadvantaged in their community to tackle fuel poverty through energy efficiency and clean renewable energy initiatives. It’s expected this surplus income will be over £200,000 in total over the next 18 years, with a projected minimum of £5,000 per year. TEC’s first round of community grants has already been deployed to local Energy Hardship Funds to provide support to households during the COVID-19 crisis.

“Our community solar has enabled us to save 50 tonnes of CO₂ to date and provides an everyday example within the school of the benefits of renewable energy. We work with our pupils to encourage them to save energy and have a thriving Eco Committee.

We’ve been able to invest the savings on our energy bills into other areas of the school.”
“The community benefit contribution to our Hardship Fund is particularly welcome at this time” Pete Hamlyn, Headteacher, Carbeile Junior School, Torpoint.

Funds raised via the share offer will repay some of the existing loan funding that was secured to fund initial installation costs of the solar panels. Investors will be granted membership of TEC, giving them the opportunity to get involved in shareholder voting and having a say in the future running of the community.

Let’s localise energy

Power from the sun for a greener planet and local community benefit