Community-owned energy co-operative Community Power Cornwall has acquired wholly owned subsidiary West Country Renewables for £1.34 million.
It said this is the first time a Cornish community energy society has bought an existing company and claimed assets being transferred from private to community ownership is becoming “more of a viable and practised method for community energy organisation across the UK looking to grow”.
The acquisition was funded by a loan of £1.43m from a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) called The Low Carbon Society Limited which makes loans to Community Enterprises to support projects with positive social and environmental outcomes. TLC Society has a loan facility with Cornwall Council which funded £1.27m of this acquisition.
The sale brings five solar arrays located at Mount Hawke Skate Park, St Agnes Railway Yard, St Agnes Presingoll Farm and Scarne Industrial Estate totalling 500kW, and three 11kW wind turbines which are scattered across the rest of the South West into community ownership.
Clayton Elliott of Community Power Cornwall said, “It is great to have kept WCR in localcommunity ownership as it would have been a great shame if the money flows that WCR derives from Cornish natural resources had been lost from the local economy. It is also a step change for CPC which started with one site in 2011 and now manages 24 installations and about a megawatt of installed capacity all held in common ownership.”
Emma Bridge of Community Energy England said, “The acquisition of West Country Renewables by Community Power Cornwall demonstrates how communities are innovatively evolving business models to acquire existing private assets thereby increasing the community value of generation projects.”
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