Renewables platform Ripple has joined ScotWind bidder NextGen in a partnership to bring community ownership to the offshore wind sector in the UK.
The partnership aims to make a “meaningful proportion” of future Scottish offshore wind projects available via Ripple’s unique consumer ownership platform.
Individuals will be able to purchase “micro shares” of offshore wind projects as they near final investment decision.
Once operational, the green electricity from the offshore wind farm will be supplied to their homes, via the grid.
The Ripple ownership model will also deliver a programme of local initiatives in communities with high incidence of fuel poverty, cementing the role of renewable energy in building net zero future energy systems.
Ripple is an official project partner for NextGen’s ScotWind applications and the companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop the community ownership model and net zero community benefit programme for any projects awarded to the consortium through the ScotWind leasing process.
Ripple and the wider NextGen consortium see community ownership models “as critical in ensuring new large-scale renewable investments make a real positive impact both in the local communities where they are situated and across the UK to tackle the climate crisis”.
NextGen believes there is really exciting potential to develop the Ripple platform even further, as a basis to encourage local clean energy initiatives, including heat pump retrofits, electric vehicle charging and other distributed storage and flexibility technologies.
David Woodhead, innovation manager for NextGen, said: “The offshore wind sector in the UK has been slow on the uptake with community energy, but we believe that the benefits of opening up ownership of offshore wind projects to the public are huge.
“We have ambitious plans to break the mould with our ScotWind projects. We are really excited about this partnership and see great potential in Ripple’s innovative platform, both to enable meaningful consumer ownership of an offshore wind project for the first time, and as a vehicle to support wider local benefits in the Scottish communities neighbouring our wind farm projects.
“We look forward to working with them as a project delivery partner to develop a model which works for the offshore wind sector.”
Sarah Merrick, founder and CEO of Ripple Energy, said: “Partnering with NextGen represents a step change in the development of Ripple’s green energy ownership platform.
“It shows that, with the right approach, genuine community ownership is possible, even for very large offshore wind farms.
“This enables many more people to join the renewable energy revolution and support the transition to clean power. We look forward to working with them upon the successful award of a project lease in the ScotWind process.”