We know a lot of potential community investors are eager to invest and we can’t wait to turn your money into a fairer and greener energy supply, so here’s an update on where we are.
ECOE was legally constituted in January last year with an initial target to develop and commission a community-owned renewable energy project – Solar PV1. In many senses, we’re almost there. We have a passionate and engaged base of members, volunteers and supporters. We have a robust business plan, financial model and governance structure. We’ve already done a lot of the preparation needed to launch a community share offer. We have surveyed sites all over Exeter and have signed heads of terms agreements with two of them – Shillingford Organics and Wonford Community and Learning Centre.
One large roof that made the share offer viable is now on hold and may not progress at all. In order to launch a viable share offer, we need to bring more roofs like this into the project.
We are talking to a lot of sites already – some are at an early stage, some are more advanced – but with no legal agreements in place we can’t be sure that they’ll come to fruition.
Now is the time to re-focus and re-double our efforts on this front. We – everyone already working behind the scenes and anyone else who wants this project to happen – need to do two things:
- Identify new leads. We have spoken to many organisations already, but if you know someone who might be a useful contact – someone with links to any business, public sector organisation, charity/not-for-profit or community organisation with a roof around 300m2 or bigger – please let us know. Speak to your friends, family and colleagues about the project – our experience shows the more we talk about it, the more leads emerge.
- Work through the nitty gritty of turning our existing leads into signed-up project partners. This is sometimes complicated but always really interesting work, and all you need to get involved is a bit of spare time and a can-do attitude. Get in touch if this is you.
Right now we can’t commit to a date for the share offer, but by working together we can move it forward much more quickly. Please get involved!
