Part ownership of a Ripple Wind Turbine, fancy it?

[nowty]

There is annual maintenance at GF today and tomorrow, don't worry too much, its now been ages since any downtime.

"The Graig Fatha turbine is due its annual maintenance checks - these will be done on Tuesday and Wednesday 26th / 27th. As always, the team will try to minimise the down time as far as possible."

[Moxi]

Post removed

[Adokforme]

GF has been back generating again since 20.00 hrs. Just in time for some serious wind in the coming days!

[AE-NMidlands]

Looking for my Ripple login I found https://www.scottishfinancialnews.com/a ... -wind-farm
Did we know that it was Virgin money in KH? Anyway, it looks as though it will be Nationwide BS money now...
A

[Fintray]

Looking for my Ripple login I found https://www.scottishfinancialnews.com/a ... -wind-farm
Did we know that it was Virgin money in KH? Anyway, it looks as though it will be Nationwide BS money now...
A

Yes, back in post 2773.

[AE-NMidlands]

Looking for my Ripple login I found https://www.scottishfinancialnews.com/a ... -wind-farm
Did we know that it was Virgin money in KH? Anyway, it looks as though it will be Nationwide BS money now...
A

Yes, back in post 2773.

Thanks, I missed that.
I find it interesting that we shall soon have a Mutual/Building Society (albeit through a newly-acquired business banking arm) with a stake in the country's energy infrastructure. I'm sure that the Ripple investment will be a good one, I just hope that the rest of the Virgin business is sound.
Having seen the Coop Bank sunk by its merger with the Britannia, and knowing the "smoke and mirrors" finances of the Virgin group (which Private Eye has been trying to unscramble for decades) I am a bit uneasy about the outcome for the Nationwide...
Luckily I am a very small shareholder (member.)

[cojmh]

Hi all,

Just received the following email from Ripple - interested in what other people think of this email?



This is an important email, please read it in full. It covers:
• Higher than expected construction costs
• Saving rate for the first 6 months
• A vote on whether to amend the coop rules to apply for a CFD

The grid connection for Kirk Hill is on track to be energised in April, with the first turbines able to begin generating very shortly afterwards.

Higher than expected construction costs
We want to let you know that the project has incurred some costs that have been higher than anticipated. The costs are around £3.5m higher than budgeted, or 11%.

We have always said members would not be required to contribute additional capital to the co-op. This remains the case. The additional costs will be funded by increasing the bank finance facility which is not expected to impact members returns over the lifetime of the project.

Savings rate for the first 6 months
Rather than fixing the price for a full year, the Board has decided to fix it for 6 months, starting on 1st June. It can then be fixed for a full 12 months in the autumn, when prices may be higher, if that appears to be the optimal strategy.

The price we have fixed for the 6 months from 1 June, coupled with a higher average operating cost in the first 6 months of the project due to lower generation over the summer and the need to build up our operating reserves means the saving rate for the first 6 months is forecast to be 3.2p/kWh. Without the increased operating cost the saving rate would have been around 4.3p/kWh. This reflects the current market price for electricity.

You may notice this is lower than the Graig Fatha savings rate, This is in part due to Graig Fatha receiving some grid benefits, which Kirk Hill is not entitled to. The first savings that members will see will be on their July bill, for generation in June.

The above projections do not include any generation prior to 1st June. Any operating reserves built up prior to June will be used to increase the projected savings rate.

The cause of the additional costs falls into three broad areas, in addition to the impacts of high inflation:
1. Delays to the road works needed to get the turbine components off the main road and over Croftengee Bridge, due to a utility company changing their position a matter of days before turbines were due to be delivered. This meant their services had to be diverted and, as well as the direct cost of this work, the delay increased the cost of storing the turbines before they could be transported to site.

2. More extensive road resurfacing was required on the public road leading up to the site entrance. In some parts we needed to effectively rebuild the road rather than just resurfacing it. Prior to construction we had budgeted 6-figure sums for repairs to this section of road, but the extent to which it degraded during construction was greater than anyone had expected.

3. The delay to the grid connection increased the project management and site operation costs.

Whilst the delays have increased direct costs, they have also meant the site has lost valuable winter generation. This has compounded the impact on the project's finances. It means there will be less early revenue to repay the bank finance facility. It will also make it more difficult to build up a healthy operating reserve as the first 6 month of generation will be over the summer when generation is lower.

We appreciate this will be disappointing. We have done everything in our power to minimize the impact of the cost increases on members and anticipate it can be effectively mitigated within the first year of generation.

Vote on amending coop rules to apply for a government subsidy contract
In addition, we wanted to let you know about a vote that will take be put to the Kirk Hill coop. This is the first time such a vote has taken place. Whist Ripple and the coop board seek to take operational decisions, a decision to amend the coop’s rules can only be taken by the coop members.

The Government has opened applications for an auction for subsidy contracts called Contracts for Difference (CFDs). The coop board has decided to ask the members whether they want the coop rules to be amended to enable the coop to apply for a CFD contract for the coop funded share of the project.

A CFD would stabilize the value of electricity from the wind farm. This would in turn stabilize the level of savings to members. Whilst providing far greater certainty and visibility over the level of savings, it would break the link between changes in the wholesale electricity price and the level of savings. Savings would not be higher when power prices were higher, but equally, they would not be lower when power prices were lower. Savings would still be greater in periods of high wind though as the CFD operates on a £/MWh basis.

You need to consider whether you would prefer certainty over savings and protection from low prices, or a continued link between market prices and savings rates and the continued ability to benefit from very high prices in the market prices, if they occurred again.

To enable you to make an informed decision we have prepared a video and information pack about CFDs and what they could mean for the level of savings from Kirk Hill. Derril Water coop will also be asked to vote on whether to amend the coop rules in order to apply for a CFD as well. This opportunity is not available to Graig Fatha as it is already operational and less than 5MW.

We will hold a vote at an EGM (extraordinary general meeting) on Monday 15th April. We encourage you to ask any questions you have, and share your thoughts on the community. You will also be able to ask questions during the Q+A session at the EGM.

The vote will be on whether to change the coop rules to replace the words ‘stabilize members’ electricity bills’ to ‘lower members’ electricity bills’. Any change to the rules requires a 75% majority of voters in favour of the change.

We will share registration details for the EGM and vote shortly.

[nowty]

None of it is a surprise.

We already knew there were cost overruns, extra borrowing, grid delay to the summer wind lull and lower market leccy prices. The CFD thing was also in their last published KH Coop mtg minutes but it blows their "stabilise your bills" concept out of the water though.

The latest GF rebate renew got 6.55p / kWh.

Take off a penny for the higher Scottish transmission costs, take off another penny for even cheaper leccy prices, take off another penny for the over run into the summer lull and you not far off the 3.2p / kWh rebate price for the first 6 months operation of KH.

[NoraBatty]

Looks to me, like P4 is going to be in Scotland.
This will be a first punt for myself.

Curious if any of you would look at its generation factor as being a big set back in comparison to the previous ones?
Nowty mentioned a few pages back, the site may be less windy based on their calculator, and im only going on that.

Not sure if Im allowed to say where I think it is, or why, or add a link on here, but if it is there, its quite a windy area. Not that I've hiked it with an anemometer or anything.

Whilst splitting between wind and solar seems sensible, with existing solar already, and an expansion of it planned this year,
im wondering if a 50/50 Scottish/elsewhere wind, is more sensible given it seems more reliable than solar.

And Nowty, how did you get to 138%, if you don't mind me asking?
I would read the thread, but its a bit long, Abd may not have the answer!

Thanks

[nowty]

Looks to me, like P4 is going to be in Scotland.
This will be a first punt for myself.

Curious if any of you would look at its generation factor as being a big set back in comparison to the previous ones?
Nowty mentioned a few pages back, the site may be less windy based on their calculator, and im only going on that.

Not sure if Im allowed to say where I think it is, or why, or add a link on here, but if it is there, its quite a windy area. Not that I've hiked it with an anemometer or anything.

Whilst splitting between wind and solar seems sensible, with existing solar already, and an expansion of it planned this year,
im wondering if a 50/50 Scottish/elsewhere wind, is more sensible given it seems more reliable than solar.

And Nowty, how did you get to 138%, if you don't mind me asking?
I would read the thread, but its a bit long, Abd may not have the answer!

Thanks

If your only guessing about the location is fine to say, I had a theory ages back about the KH site and was wrong.

I'm at a quite legal 138% because of exceptional circumstances, I inherited the extra 18% from my late father. Its inheritance tax free if the investment is held for at least 2 years, similar to qualifying AIM shares (business tax relief). My mother will be buying into P4 for further inheritance tax planning.