Give individuals the right to buy shares in commercial wind and solar farms
One suggestion that has come up a couple of times is the need for new build and retrofits to include wind and solar.
Unfortunately not every home is suitable for solar (flats and houses with wrong orientation) or wind (urban areas).
Allowing people to buy shares in commercial or community schemes would allow them to offset their energy usage by owning appropriate energy production in suitable locations.
The ownership of these could be assigned to the home in question. This would allow the EPC of the home to be improved to reflect the fact that the energy consumed by the home has been offset by renewable resources.
In theory all new developments could include appropriate renewable energy production as part of planning permission to ensure that all developments are carbon neutral.
Unfortunately not every home is suitable for solar (flats and houses with wrong orientation) or wind (urban areas).
Allowing people to buy shares in commercial or community schemes would allow them to offset their energy usage by owning appropriate energy production in suitable locations.
The ownership of these could be assigned to the home in question. This would allow the EPC of the home to be improved to reflect the fact that the energy consumed by the home has been offset by renewable resources.
In theory all new developments could include appropriate renewable energy production as part of planning permission to ensure that all developments are carbon neutral.
Why the contribution is important
1. A lot of housing stock isn't suitable for retrofitting of renewable energy production or saving devices. This approach would allow individuals to take action allowing them to take personal responsibility for offsetting energy usage.
2. It provides cash for windfarms etc. Rather than windfarms having to take money from the market and pay interest the cash is provided by investors who's return is based on having their energy provided by renewable resources. This should provide a better rate for personal investors.
3. This approach could be used to provide finance for a publicly owned Scottish energy generation company which means that the cost of this doesn't appear on the books of the Scottish Government which is great for accountants and also means that borrowing isn't need (which can't be done by the Scottish Government as well).
4. There are a lot of homes in Scotland that can't easily be brought down to an EPC of A-C as it is impossible to place renewable resources on the property which is one of the major ways of improving an EPC. This will help the figures (arguable that it is a fudge).
5. Scale of supply should mean that the overall cost is lower. Individual home schemes are not as efficient as larger schemes so better returns should be obtained.
2. It provides cash for windfarms etc. Rather than windfarms having to take money from the market and pay interest the cash is provided by investors who's return is based on having their energy provided by renewable resources. This should provide a better rate for personal investors.
3. This approach could be used to provide finance for a publicly owned Scottish energy generation company which means that the cost of this doesn't appear on the books of the Scottish Government which is great for accountants and also means that borrowing isn't need (which can't be done by the Scottish Government as well).
4. There are a lot of homes in Scotland that can't easily be brought down to an EPC of A-C as it is impossible to place renewable resources on the property which is one of the major ways of improving an EPC. This will help the figures (arguable that it is a fudge).
5. Scale of supply should mean that the overall cost is lower. Individual home schemes are not as efficient as larger schemes so better returns should be obtained.
by Tony on September 06, 2022 at 04:21PM
Posted by Cvrtm September 07, 2022 at 07:42
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Posted by Tony September 07, 2022 at 09:52
There's a scheme which I will not mention by name due to rules on promoting companies which runs ownership as part of a cooperative.
The main difference is that rather than you just receiving a percentage of the profits of the company you receive the difference in how much a unit costs vs how much it sells for - so you receive the savings. The number of units is based on your shares in the windfarme.
So it is your energy - it is just not produced at your home it is produced elsewhere.
Given the unsuitability of existing housing stock for energy generation methods such as solar and wind it may be an option.
Of course it could just be a really bad idea and a ponzi scheme. That's for the experts to determine if it's a good idea or not.
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Posted by Tony September 07, 2022 at 09:59
If you use 3000 kWh then the cost would be £2000 which would offset your entire energy usage by renewables.
This appears to be comparable to a micro turbine on a home (assuming you can even install one).
Anyway, as I said. Could be a really bad idea.
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