Ripple Energy has announced that Derril Water Solar Park will become Britain’s first shared solar park.
This announcement comes as RES, who developed the project, enters an agreement to sell Derril Water Solar Park to a Ripple managed co-operative.
From tomorrow, households across Devon and Britain will be able to buy and own part of the project which is located approximately 1.2km away from the village of Pyworthy.
Ripple is ring-fencing 10% of the ownership of Derril Water Solar Park exclusively for those in the surrounding area and is urging interested local households and businesses to come forward. From Tuesday 18th April, individuals in the local area will be given two weeks exclusive access to buy shares from the ring fenced portion of the project. Owners of the solar park will see savings applied to their electricity bill, based on how much electricity their share of the solar park generates. By co-owning Derril Water Solar Park, members will be able to power their homes with local green energy, and slash their energy bills whilst reducing their carbon footprint.
The remaining 90% of the people-powered solar park will be open to people across Britain. Ripple has already proven its model with two consumer-owned wind farms in Wales and Scotland (the UK’s first and the UK’s largest of its kind). Derril Water Solar Park will be Ripple’s third and most ambitious project to date and is an important milestone in its mission to make green energy ownership accessible to everyone.
RES will continue its involvement in the project, undertaking the construction and providing operational services once the solar park starts generating clean energy.
Sarah Merrick, founder and CEO of Ripple Energy, said:
By offering consumer ownership, Derril Water Solar Park will become a completely different kind of solar park, one owned by the people it supplies low cost green power to. We want Derril Water to become a blueprint for consumer-owned solar parks around the world. We want to create a wave of green energy ownership that enables people to make a real climate impact, as well as stabilising their energy bills. People from all corners of Britain will be able to co-own Derril Water Solar Park, and we hope as many as possible will become part of this pioneering project.
Lucy Whitford, RES’ Managing Director – UK&I, said:
Bringing Ripple on board at Derril Water offers a new way for consumers to share in the benefits of renewable energy and play a part in fighting climate change. The ability for local households and businesses to get involved connects the community directly with the project. Ripple’s model at Derril Water provides a direct way for consumers to lower their energy costs at such a critical time.
More about Derril Water Solar Park:
- Derril Water Solar Park will be up to 42MW, with the potential to power up to 14,000 homes across Devon and Britain
- During the development process, RES identified and selected the project due to its viable grid connection, good solar irradiance levels, ease of access and positioning outside of any statutory environmental, archaeological and landscape designations.
- RES designed Derril Water to be dual-purpose enabling solar and agriculture to co-exist – less than 4% of the land physically occupied by the arrays and infrastructure, allowing agriculture in the form of sheep grazing to continue on over 96% of the site during operation.
- There will be a range of biodiversity enhancements around the site including bee banks, wildflower meadows and new hedgerows, it is anticipated that the number of habitat units will be increased by 90% and there will be an increase of 30% of existing hedgerows.
