Ripple Energy wind farm?

QrizB

charlescoker said:

Petriix said:

It doesn't work like that. You're just buying part of a wind turbine and collecting an equivalent share of its operating profit as a credit on your bill. The running costs of the turbine (and admin etc) will likely remain fairly static and low, while the electricity generated will sell for whatever the going wholesale price is.

This has no effect on the price you pay for your energy. You still have to pay whatever rate your supplier sets. But your share of the Ripple profits will be credited to your balance and reduce the amount you pay.

That’s really helpful 
currently I’m being offered 24p day 14night on a flexible but 33day on a fixed 12 month
i can’t understand why the flex is less unless that’s the current cap? What is the cap likely to go to in April?  Surely the wholesale price must fall back this year as things get back to normal?  The thing that I see is that the purchase of shares in Wind Farm seems an excellent hedge when I currently use such a large amount of electric 13,000 KW 

That flexible rate is at the current Ofgem cap. The cap is likely to increase to ~30p/kWh for single-rate electricity in April (see this thread for my running estimate) so E7 could be 34p/20p.

13000 kWh/yr is a lot of electricity, £2500/yr, I'm guessing you have storage heaters? Have you considered heat pump(s), you might be able to halve that?

barker77

Just had a watch of the agm meeting linked. I’m a bit confused as Sarah the ceo mentions that the price is fixed and therefore it seems possible that if the price is fixed and the price goes up considerably then as I understand it you won’t get increased benefit, is that right? 

Verdigris

Which price?

QrizB

barker77 said:

Just had a watch of the agm meeting linked. I’m a bit confused as Sarah the ceo mentions that the price is fixed and therefore it seems possible that if the price is fixed and the price goes up considerably then as I understand it you won’t get increased benefit, is that right? 

I haven't watched the whole AGM video so excuse me asking - the price of what is fixed, exactly?

thevilla

I would imagine it's part of a cfd contract so guaranteed fixed price for the energy produced.  If wholesale price is higher then the surplus is returned to the subsidy fund and not retained by the generator.

barker77

It seemed that they were talking about the price sold to ocotopus and therefore the price that investors would get. But confusingly the video on the website says the higher the price the more return on investment. I think I’m going to have to sit this one out , although I bet I’ll regret it! 

superbob_2000

I've read through this thread and the Ripple website, but still can't decide if it's a good deal or not (financially).

We currently have a 4.8kW Solar PV array and drive an EV.
Over the last 12 months we consumed 6760kWh of electric, with 1188kWh of this from the panels.
3485kWh was exported.
Therefore we imported/bought 5572kWh from Octopus (Go tariff) at an average of 8p/kWh, therefore £445.

On the Ripple website, if I bought in at £3k this is roughly the same kWh generated as I need (5572kWh from Octopus).
However it says I would only save £212 per year, this costs me much more from Octopus.

Am I right in thinking I cannot buy the power I actually need from Ripple, just an offset payment?
If so batteries probably make much more sense, although an impending doubling of electric costs may need factoring in.

Petriix

superbob_2000 said:

I've read through this thread and the Ripple website, but still can't decide if it's a good deal or not (financially).

We currently have a 4.8kW Solar PV array and drive an EV.
Over the last 12 months we consumed 6760kWh of electric, with 1188kWh of this from the panels.
3485kWh was exported.
Therefore we imported/bought 5572kWh from Octopus (Go tariff) at an average of 8p/kWh, therefore £445.

On the Ripple website, if I bought in at £3k this is roughly the same kWh generated as I need (5572kWh from Octopus).
However it says I would only save £212 per year, this costs me much more from Octopus.

Am I right in thinking I cannot buy the power I actually need from Ripple, just an offset payment?
If so batteries probably make much more sense, although an impending doubling of electric costs may need factoring in.

The Ripple buy in is a different kind of investment to a battery. I'm going for both as they serve different purposes.

A battery will allow you to store and use more of your solar and reduce your peak imports. The useable life might not extend beyond 10 years so it might struggle to break even.

Ripple will (hopefully) keep generating for 25 years and should break even after 14, so it's much more of a long-term investment. 

superbob_2000

Thanks for the quick reply.
A battery is a different proposition which I can understand.

The Ripple info implies I would get £212 back per year on my £3k buy-in.
Does this double if wholesale electricity doubles? Or fixed so inflation would also erode this away in real terms.
For an investment, they don't provide much clarity or information.

charlescoker

It's not called an investment although it is really.  Its very simple as I see it.  You buy a share of the production and this generates electricty at a cost of 2p per Kw and is sold into the market at the wholesale price .... whatever the difference betwean 2p and the wholesale price x the amount of energy you have bought will be credited against your bills.  At current wholesale prices those that are already invested are making around 16k per Kw but who knows what the price will be over a 25yr period.  I reckon it will take me 8-10yrs to get my original stake back and then 15-17yrs will be profit. At my age 67 I dont think this makes sense although you can leave it in your will to give to the kids