Ripple Energy’s third consumer-owned energy project, which allows consumers to buy and co-own a source of renewable energy generation, has received 16,000 reservations for its seven day purchase priority window.
By buying shares of a renewable generation site from only £25, participants of the project will receive money off their electricity bills based on the amount of energy produced by their share.
Although a similar principle to owning domestic solar panels – with customers receiving money off their bills based on how much the renewable energy solutions generate – Ripple Energy has said that co-ownership is a 70% cheaper alternative due to the economies of scale.
The project’s first site – a single wind turbine in Graig Fatha, South Wales – went live in March 2022 and is owned by 905 people.
Co-owners of the Graig Fatha wind turbine have already reported savings on their energy bills. Ripple reported that the electricity bill of one co-owner in London came to only £1.50 in November 2022 thanks to the scheme and existing energy tariff.
Ripple predicts that these savings will increase, announcing that co-ownership members could save roughly £783 on their electricity bill in 2023. This is largely due to the current energy crisis causing purchase prices jump to 27p/kWh this year from 9.63p/kWh.
The second co-ownership project – currently under construction – is an eight turbine site located in Ayrshire, Scotland owned by 5,600 people and 18 businesses.
Ripple aims to announce the location of the third site in Q1 this year. After the seven-day priority window for the 16,000 people that purchased reservations, the remaining shares will be available to the public.
Sarah Merrick, founder of Ripple Energy said: “To have 16,000 people raring to join our next project is incredible. People are gradually finding out that better green energy options are available and when they do they love it.”
