Co-investment
We are excited to be offering a Community Co-investment Scheme for the Capital Battery.
Community co-investment supports the ACT in achieving its Climate Change Strategy through community leadership, by involving and leveraging the power of community towards an emissions-free future.
It will be the second time that Australians have been invited to invest in a major commercial renewable energy project. And as far as we’re aware this is the first time this has been proposed for battery storage anywhere in the world!
The Community Co-Investment Scheme will be launched once the battery is operating and will be open to residents of the ACT and broader Capital region.
More information to come – if you’re interested, please fill in the form below.
WHAT IS CO-INVESTMENT ?
This is where the community has the opportunity to invest in a commercial renewable energy asset and in return acquires rights to a portion of the earnings of the project, but has no decision-making power or control over the operation of the project.
It is a common method for medium and large scale renewables globally. For example in Denmark it is legislated that every wind project must offer up 20% for local community investment.
This is an emerging model in Australia, with Sapphire Wind Farm in NSW being the first commercial project to open up for public investment in 2018. The approach used at Sapphire was investment through a subordinated debt instrument, with a minimum investment sum of $1,250 for a term of 9.5 years and a 6% annual rate of return.
COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP IS A DIFFERENT MODEL
Community ownership is where an entirely community-owned vehicle such as a co-operative or a company owns (or co-owns) and operates a renewable energy asset. This generally applies to small or mid-scale projects. There are now over 100 community-owned renewable energy projects across Australia including Hepburn Wind Farm in Victoria.
Solar Share’s Majura Community Solar Farm is a local project co-owned by 400-600 members of the ACT community. Solar Share raised $2.36 million for a 1MW solar farm which is currently under construction. Investment amounts ranged from $500 to $100,000 with investors receiving shares in the solar farm.
Source: Guide to Benefit-sharing Options for Renewable Energy Projects, CEC 2019
