Neilston Community Wind Farm
Location: East Renfrewshire
Project: 10MW Wind farm scheme (four turbines)
Type of venture: Joint Venture between Carbon Free Developments Limited and the Neilston Trust
Community Stake: East Renfrewshire residents hold 28% stake, costing £950,000
Opened: May 2013
This was the first joint ownership venture (JV) between a wind farm developer and a community. The Neilston Trust raised £950,000 to purchase their stake. This was partly funded by the Scottish Government and other organisations including Social Investment Scotland. It was estimated that money would start to become available for Neilston Development Trust after 2018-2019. This is common for a renewable project development where the income from energy generation will initially go to service the debt. Once the debt has been reduced and the interest payments are less, then there is excess income which is available to the owners of the project.
Read our case study about Neilston Community Wind Farm.
Allt Dearg Wind Farmers LLP
Location: Ardrishaig Project: 10MW Wind farm scheme (12 Vestas V52 turbines) Type of venture: Joint venture between various partners and the community
Stake: The Allt Dearg Wind Farmers LLP (ADWF) owns the venture but is supported by 6 partners including the Ardishaig Community Trust which has a 1/12th stake (£300,000).
Opened: 2011
There are 6 owners of the Allt Dearg Wind Farm, including Ardrishaig Renewable Energies Limited (ARE Ltd) who are a company limited by shares that is wholly owned by The Ardishaig Community Trust. The investment of £300,000 by ARE Ltd was funded by a loan from ADWF. This now provides ARE Ltd with a share of the cash surplus generated by the wind farm, which is gift aided to the Ardishaig Community Trust.
The project capital was funded by the partners (20%) and a 15-year loan from the Co-operative Bank. The loan was secured against the assets and future cash flow of the partnership. The bank provided favourable terms for the project on the basis of a few conditions and because of the end use of the revenues. These conditions related to transparency and good governance.
Two of the wind farm owners are defined as “equity investors”. Once the project has paid for the operational costs of service, maintenance, insurance and administration, the cash that remains is first used to make bank loan repayments and interest payments, and thereafter a fixed profit share payment to the two ‘equity investors’. The cash surplus that remains will then be divided between the ‘non-equity partners’, including the Trust, via ARE Ltd.
Read our case study about Allt Dearg windfarm and Ardrishairg Community Trust.
