What do you take from this? (community funded renewable power, piece)

[Mr Gus]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... een-energy

Considering the scale of interest & investment for ripple project 2, ..how would you improve a community scheme?
Buy in? extra on your council tax, be it local / national (councils would scream I imagine) or something else via.a "green taxation" across various platforms?

Ripple is a change, but flawed, what lessons for others, & how would you ring-fence the assets from future sell offs (as any scheme is "meat" ) from govt?

[nowty]

I'm a direct "buy in" kind of person myself, I don't trust government or councils to do it.

I'm not quite a Guardian fan but thats a nice article and sums up what quite a few on here have done with the Ripple Energy projects. We have a confirmed 28 members in one or more Ripple Energy projects and several more in other community energy schemes. The latest tally on here is an annual 217 MWh worth of generation from such schemes.

I am aware Energy4All have got their finger in one of the ScotWind offshore projects, but the one quoted in the article (Project Collette) off the Cumbrian coast is news to me, and very good news if it comes off.

I found more info on the project, 1.2GW.
https://edenworksgreen.com/project-coll ... ollective/

[Joeboy]

SWMBO sais last night that she'd seen a bond from AJ Bell at 6%. The danger is that inflation and RE company reaction speed could undermine the attraction of RE schemes.

The 4.5% Lincoln schools on Energy4all for example?

Sorry to type that...

[Stig]

I'd advise thoroughly researching a company before buying bonds. I invested in some so-called secure bonds in a company putting PV on schools a few years back, Australian parent company wound up the company and walked off with the cash after only paying the first dividend. I eventually got reimbursed through the UK regulator's insurance scheme but it left a bad taste in the mouth.

Hmm, wasn't it an Australian investment company that asset stripped Thames Water and then sold it on...?

[Mr Gus]

The "fraud walk away" is precisely why i'd like to see a national scheme (only managed well as a not for profit through every slice of pie) that acts fast due to the amount of moneystream rather than struggling to fill prior to ground breaking (etc) & absorbing debt like ripple has, because neersayers will pull delay & lack of 100% funding down as a matter of course, ...plenty ready to condemn.

As we know it doesn't necessarily have to be built in your own back yard to get the benefit, which is good for remote investors & electrons coming down the wire as to "making it real" ..the effect being the impact by performance (pollutant reduction et al)

Full funding by guarantee that a "competent" office can steady this sort of venture (it's not a 15 year build unlike a nuc reactor) & activation, with media (eg no "Selwyn Gummer" mp foot in mouth scenaios, controls on what is claimed performance versus actual performance to ride out the anti's. (for which nearby pre-existing wind farms deliver pretty reasonable like for like data as is)

So if you were going to drum up cash momentum for this as govt, whats the best way to do it? (you know my thoughts re lottery) but what else, more ICE tax? more takeaway tax? carbon tax on takeaway deliveries based on pollutants, meat footprint etc? forcing big companies to go full energy production renewable via uk trading scheme implementation? green parking tax, ulez ...what?