Ripple Energy has launched a crowdfunding campaign on the investment platform Seedrs.
The green energy start-up is attempting to raise £750,000 in return for a 23.21 per cent stake in the company. As part of its business plan, its customers will co-own windfarms and supply their homes with the energy they produce.
Ripple says that cost of solar panels to meet a typical home’s electricity needs is around £5,500, whereas windfarm co-ownership with them can be as little as £1,300.
The start-up estimates that customers could save £85 – £175 each year on their electricity bills over the 25-year lifespan of a windfarm. A co-owner’s carbon footprint could also be reduced by roughly 950kg/C02 per year, equivalent to going vegan or reducing car use by 70 per cent.
The company will secure consented windfarms, establish ownership community benefit societies, manage the construction and operations, and partner with existing licensed green energy suppliers to supply the electricity to co-owners’ homes via unique tariffs.
Its pilot windfarm project is set to launch three months after the crowdfunding campaign is complete with the capacity to supply around 800 households. This will be followed by a larger farm six months later, aiming to power over 18,000 households.
As the customer base grows, the firm plans to build more projects, hoping to offer ownership of an offshore windfarm by 2024.
Outside of wind, Ripple says that its platform could work with any fuel free energy technology, and it could easily include large scale solar schemes today.
The minimum investment has been set at £10.
Ripple Energy’s founder and chief executive, Sarah Merrick, said: “Ripple’s vision is a clean energy future owned by people not companies. In the future, customers won’t need utilities to own windfarms and solar parks on their behalf – with Ripple’s help they will be able to do it themselves.
“Investors in Ripple can help make that vision a reality. They will have the opportunity to join a highly scalable and potentially transformative company right at the start.
“Large companies like Google and IKEA have been buying low cost renewable electricity direct for years. I want ordinary people to be able to benefit too, which is why I set up Ripple. During 2018, market power prices increased by 26 per cent, whereas the cost of electricity from a windfarm remains stable throughout its 25-year life. Ripple will help protect consumers from wholesale price increases and provide low cost clean power for generations to come.”
Presenter Robert Llewellyn from Fully Charged, a Youtube channel focused on electric vehicles and renewable energy, said: “I’ve seen just how excited people get about powering their homes and cars with clean energy. I’m really excited about what Ripple can offer.”
Sarah Merrick is set to speak at Utility Week Live 2019 and the Utility Week Energy Summit.