Joining a cooperative will help more people make real savings on their energy bills, says managing agent Ripple.
Rooftop solar is the mainstream method of harnessing renewables for homeowners and businesses.
Meanwhile renters and flat dwellers are turning increasingly to energy cooperatives which allow them to own a small stake in large-scale wind farms and solar parks and receive green, low-cost electricity via the grid and their supplier.
Now Ripple Energy has launched an ‘Own Your Power’ campaign to remove financial barriers and make large-scale energy cooperatives more accessible.
Founder and CEO, Sarah Merrick is part of a subgroup of the UK Government’s Onshore Wind Taskforce, examining how to accelerate the roll-out of renewables. She said, “We’re at a critical point in the UK’s energy transition, with the new Government pledging to speed up renewables’ deployment and the biggest expansion in community energy in British history.
“At Ripple, we absolutely believe that’s possible, but only by going big on people-owned power. We need lots of new wind farms and solar parks to achieve the Government target of green power by 2030; people shouldn’t be locked out of the transition.
“Energy cooperatives are the solution. They democratise energy ownership by enabling people to be part of large-scale projects. Crucially, they also protect people against price hikes from the energy market and geopolitical volatility.”
Cooperative energy
While the Government has already pledged its support for community energy projects, including cooperatives, more needs to be done to help people take the first step into renewable energy ownership.
Ripple is calling for three financial challenges to be resolved:
1. A simple and accessible levy exemption for green energy ownership
Green energy levies are added to electricity bills to support renewable energy in Britain. People should not pay energy levies on electricity supplied to them from their own wind farm or solar park. A typical household could pay £2,000 to buy a share of a wind farm to supply their power, then pay a further £1,800 in levies to subsidise someone else’s wind farm. An exemption from the levies already exists but it requires the use of unlicensed energy suppliers or private wire networks. Ripple wants the exemption simplified so everyone who owns part of a large-scale wind farm or solar park cooperative can benefit.
2. Stop taxing bill savings
Bill savings from cooperative energy ownership can be liable to tax, as savings are treated as interest income for tax purposes. For some members this reduces how much they save on their electricity bill by as much as 40%. Ripple is calling for tax relief for cooperative energy ownership as is the case for home solar owners.
3. Financial support
GB Energy should make available low-cost loans or grants for people on lower incomes to help them buy their share of a wind farm or solar park. Home solar is often out of reach for low-income households. However, with financial support, access to renewable energy can still be possible for lower income households by joining a cooperative.
Sarah added, “We wholeheartedly support the Government’s aim to unleash the biggest expansion of community energy in history. Energy cooperatives are communities in their own right, and by implementing these three simple asks, the true potential of community energy in Britain can be realised with nobody left behind or penalised for their contribution.”
Energy cooperatives explained: Ripple’s model
A typical household needs just a credit card’s slice of a wind turbine to meet their electricity needs for 30 years.
Ripple enables households and businesses to collectively own, via a cooperative, large-scale wind farms and solar parks and have the green, low-cost power supplied to them, via the grid, by utility companies.
The co-op members receive savings off their electricity bills every month for the 25–40-year lifetime of the project, while Ripple manages the entire process from the build to the ongoing operations.
Ripple co-ops are communities of thousands of people both near the projects and across the country, who come together to act on climate change and secure lower energy bills.
Ripple has successfully launched three projects, totalling £80m and over 60MW, owned by 15,000 households across Britain. These have included the two largest cooperative share raises in UK history.
It has also this year launched the share offer for its fourth project, a 14- turbine, 60MW onshore wind farm in the Scottish Borders. Discussions are also ongoing to bring cooperative energy to the UK’s offshore wind sector.
