What is Community Energy
Power for the people, by the people
Community energy is about local people coming together to take control of their energy supply.
Community energy investment gives people a financial stake in renewable energy through community energy investment, generating returns and funds to spend on local energy projects.
Both renewable energy and crowdfunding allowed community energy investment to expand and led to an exciting new sector
With costs for renewable energy generation, mainly through solar PV and battery energy storage falling – installing rooftop solar can deliver savings on the buildings energy bills from day one.
They key challenge has been to cover the upfront cost of installing the panels in the first place. This is where the community energy model comes in – to crowdfund the investment from people and deliver the financial benefits back to the community.
The decentralised nature of renewable energy – i.e. lots of small and dispersed generation located across the country– was well suited to crowdfunding. Suddenly, people are free to invest in capital projects near them.
Raising community energy investment
By investing in a Surya Community Energy share offers, investors become members of our energy cooperative. The average rate of return on the investment is around 5%.
Typically, renewable energy projects involve a small number of wealthy backers. The public or smaller investors do not have access to such deals. Community Energy investment turns this on its head.
We work with hundreds of backers who all invest as much or as little as they like. Enabling more people to own a stake in the energy transition!
When we launch our share offer for the first set of projects we will set out which projects money is being raised for, the full financial projections and background of the project and further information about what investors can expect from becoming an investor and therefore a member.
Sign up for our waiting list to be the first to hear about upcoming investment opportunities.