Rosie Gillam, Egni’s Director, has announced “We are delighted that Egni Co-op’s community Share Offer is now open and we invite you to invest in rooftop solar power across Wales. Now that climate change is so high profile, this is an opportunity for Wales to take the lead and for as many people as possible to get involved in this cooperative effort.
Egni Co-op has secured the Feed in Tariff (FiT) subsidy for rooftop solar panels on over 250 sites in Wales which will have an installed capacity of over 5,000kW. Our sites include businesses, community centres and universities; golf, football and rugby clubs; a brewery, leisure centres and schools.”
Dan McCallum, Egni’s Chair said “40% of all UK applications to Ofgem were submitted by Egni which is based in Cwmllynfell. “This is a remarkable achievement by our staff and will help us in our ambition to ‘solarise’ Wales!”
In this share offer, we are seeking £750,000 to finance a rolling programme of solar installations from now until March 31st 2020. We have already secured £307,000 of this total from our existing co-op members who have given us their strong backing. We will pay interest from when we receive funds.
The team behind this Share Offer have already successfully delivered 179kW of rooftop solar on 7 sites during Egni Co-op’s first share offer in 2014 (www.egni.coop). We also developed Awel Co-op (www.awel.coop), raising over £3m from community shares, and built the 4.7MW community wind farm which was commissioned in January 2017. Together with our linked charity, Awel Aman Tawe, these initiatives have won multiple awards. Annual Accounts are available on www.egni.coop and www.awel.coop.
Egni Co-op is part of a global community energy movement. In the UK alone the sector is worth £190 million with 30,000 people investing in 222 community energy groups. Altogether the UK movement has built 188 MW of renewable energy capacity.
By joining Egni Co-op, you will be part of a not-for-profit, community-owned enterprise, growing the local green energy supply. As well as providing members with a projected 4% return on their investment, all the sites will receive green electricity at a reduced price, thereby lowering their running costs and carbon emissions, and Egni Co-op will have the capacity to expand its education and awareness-raising programme.