Sustainable and community energy projects arguably face external change much more keenly than other ventures that seek social investment. Technological advances in solar, wind turbine, and battery technologies; rapid falls in the price of solar panels work broadly to their advantage, but changes to the rules and levels of the Feed-In-Tariff as well as changes to the tax rules surrounding investment into energy projects are clear challenges.
Against this backdrop, there are a variety of success stories of communities coming together to fund solar panels on local schools and community centres, anaerobic digestion, and community-owned wind turbines.
Social investment for sustainable energy projects is often about more than money and sustainable energy; frequently it is about the impact on the community surrounding the project, and the type of fundraising that is conducted may take that into account; often there is a desire to get some or all of the investment from the community.
We would be happy to discuss ideas with you; please contact us for more information.