Albion Community Power (ACP) has invested GBP1.8m in partnership with Welsh developer Infinite Renewables to fund the development of a 500kW single wind turbine on a freehold site in Tredegar, in South Wales.
The site is located on the land next to Waldron Commercials, Tafarnaubach Industrial Estate. The turbine is expected to produce its first power in the summer of 2015 and is predicted to generate over 1,400MWh of electricity per year. ACP, which is the majority shareholder in the project, has forecasted an inflation linked IRR of 13% for a period of 20 years.
This is ACP’s second 500kW wind turbine investment having invested GBP1.5m with Infinite Renewables in February this year to fund the development of a 500kw single wind turbine in Blaencilgoed, South Wales.
ACP aims to be a major producer of community scale renewable energy and is in the process of raising up to GBP100 million to power some 35,000 homes, targeting sites where power can be sold to the community at a discount of up to 50%. The ACP team will invest in a range of renewable energy projects using proven technologies including brownfield wind, solar, hydroelectricity, biogas and biomass.
ACP currently plans to sell the electricity produced by the site to Good Energy and will also explore the option of selling the electricity directly to the Tafarnaubach Industrial Estate.
David Gudgin, Managing Director of ACP, says: “Brownfield wind developments such as Tafarnaubach are core to ACP’s investment strategy and we look forward to backing further projects of this type over the coming months. Single turbine sites are proven to have delivered excellent returns and can play a key role in providing cheaper power to the local community.”
Marco Yu, Albion Community Power, says: “We are delighted to have completed ACP’s second 500kW wind investment with Infinite Renewables with whom we have had a very successful relationship. This new project plays to our collective strengths and we look forward to achieving attractive and reliable returns to ACP.”
Will David, Infinite Renewables says: “This is our seventh project with ACP and Albion VCTs, totalling over GBP13 million, and together we have built a considerable amount of expertise that enables the development process to be managed highly efficiently. South Wales provides tremendous potential for brownfield wind development opportunities and we hope to extend our partnership with ACP to additional projects over the coming months.”
ACP’s projects will qualify for government subsidies such as Feed in Tariffs (FiTs). As FiTs are RPI-linked, investors stand to benefit from protection against inflation. The Company is targeting a return of approximately 6% pa of which around half is expected to be paid by way of dividend, and which may be reinvested into new shares.
