Publicly owned energy company Ripple Energy has successfully funded a new solar development in Devonshire thanks to a deal with Virgin Money.
The community energy organization has secured a £21.8 million loan package from the bank to finance the construction and operation of the 42MW Derril Water Solar Park, which will be located near Torridge, Devon.
This isn’t the first time Ripple and Virgin Money have collaborated; Virgin Money provided financing for Ripple Energy’s 18.8MW Kirk Hill wind farm in Ayrshire, Scotland, which came online in June this year.
Adam Heslop, Virgin Money’s senior director of renewable energy, says the development agreement with Derril Water Solar Park is built on the bank’s confidence in Ripple Energy and that the bank’s experience with Ripple Energy has significantly improved the timeline for agreement on this financing package accelerated.
Heslop added: “We are deeply committed to developing green energy and reducing carbon emissions by 50% across all our financing activities by 2030, and we are pleased to help finance these projects in partnership with Ripple, and with the individuals and companies who also invest in a more ecological and financially sustainable future.”
Ripple Energy has also secured a further £20 million in funding for the Derril Water development from other institutional investors; Now that financing has been secured, the project will become operational in 2025.
Ripple founder and CEO Sarah Merrick said: “A clean energy revolution is happening in Britain, and our mission is to ensure real people are at the heart of it. Derril Water Solar Park is an incredible example of how we are accelerating the transition in a way that directly benefits the public. With the support of Virgin Money, we want to power the site in the spring, so we can deliver cleaner and more affordable energy to the thousands of owners.”
Ripple energy and power in the hands of people
The Derril Water Solar Park will be the first major solar park in Britain where members share both the power the park produces and co-ownership in the development. The park will be partly owned by almost 10,000 people, plus 34 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), all of whom will receive lower energy bills as a return on their investment in the project, instead of the usual dividends.
The Derril Water Solar Park was sold by renewable energy developer RES to an energy cooperative managed by Ripple Energy in April 2023. Ripple Energy confirmed that 10% of the site’s capacity is reserved exclusively for the ownership of local residents, with the remaining 90% owned by people across the UK.
As explored by a previous one Solar energy portal blog, community energy has seen a huge rise in recent years, and the South West of England has been identified as a solar energy ‘hotspot’.
