Ripple Energy wind farm?

chqshaitan

a public article on the acquisition by 1st energy : https://renews.biz/99974/ripple-energy-staff-lose-jobs-after-sale-of-business/

QrizB

There's a new thread on Energy (might be moved to G&E) with contact details for the Derril Water management company, and an update:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6608744/derril-water-solar-park#latest

Reed_Richards

When my supplier, Eon Next, signed up with Ripple for energy supply, I finally convinced myself that my trepidations about Ripple's business model were wrong and signed up for their fourth project, a wind farm at a site called Whitelaw Brae.  I decided to pay by monthly instalments from my credit card but after making 11 of the 12 payments Ripple folded.  It turns out that another company invested in Whitelaw Brae, Ripple never managed to.  So in principle all the money collected from the Whitelaw Brae investors should be held in a ringfenced account somewhere.  At present nobody seems to know for sure if such an account exists.  If so, it might have all or just some of the money from the investors.

Anyway, on their website Ripple's administrators suggest that Whitelaw Brae investors initiate a chargeback via their credit card provider if they had paid that way.  I did that and it worked, the money I invested has been credited back to me.  Hooray!  The moral I draw from this is that I should be guided by my own instincts and not allow myself to be swayed by a bunch of enthusiasts on a forum.         

JKenH

I was curious to find out a little more. This is from the website of the Coop set up to run Whitelaw Brae.

Is Ripple Coop 4 Limited in administration?

No.

We are not owned by Ripple Energy Limited and are not in administration. As Ripple Energy Limited held funds for Coop 4, however, we are working with the Administrators to resolve the consequences of Ripple Energy being in administration.

Who owns Whitelaw Brae?

Whitelaw Brae was purchased by Thrive Renewables PLC once Ripple Energy’s option ran out. While Ripple Energy and Thrive had been in discussions for Coop 4 to become a minority investor in the project, this did not materialise. As such, Coop 4 and our members do not currently have any stake in Whitelaw Brae Windfarm Ltd.

Where is our money? How much is lost?

This is not yet clear as the Administrators (of Ripple Energy) are still seeking legal advice on the status of money held by Ripple Energy.

The Board’s opinion is that money raised for Coop 4 / Whitelaw Brae was held in trust and thus is not available for distribution to creditors. It must be either returned to members or paid to Coop 4.

We do not, at this time, know what proportion of our money the Administrators are seeking clarification on, so we do not know and thus cannot comment on how much is available.

For the avoidance of doubt: we are not saying that some money is missing, nor are we saying that it’s all there, we have not been told and won’t until the Administrators are satisfied with their legal advice.

https://coop4.uk/faq/

And this link provides more information.

https://coop4.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/general-meeting-2025-05-03.pdf

Reed_Richards

Hopefully anyone who did invest in Whitelaw Brae is aware of the collective representation of investors by "Coop 4" and has found their website: https://coop4.uk/ .  Independent of this, I understand there is also a WhatsApp group for Whitelaw Brae investors but I did not join this so cannot comment.  The aim of Coop4 is to return as much money as possible to the investors.

paul991

is the ripple energy website working

Netexporter

The old one, that Ist Energy acquired has now gone. I think Graig Fatha now have a working interface and a similar one is being worked on for Kirk Hill. 

QrizB

Graig Fatha's site is here:

https://dashboard.windcoop.co.uk/

QrizB

This month's Kirk Hill email has arrived.

It includes a link to the FCA site where the accounts are available to view:

https://mutuals.fca.org.uk/Search/Society/31015

I've not had a chance to look at them myself, but it's good that they've finally passed audit and been submitted.

Reed_Richards

The board of Ripple Coop 4 (representing members seeking a refund of their contributions after Ripple failed to invest in the Whitelaw Brae wind farm project) are trying to "follow the money" and identify Ripple bank accounts.  They want to hear from anyone who paid Ripple by bank transfer to an account other than 09-02-22 10899940.