Ripple Energy wind farm?

AntonyTewks

Late to this but I think It's Octopus who buy the electricity from the wind farm. They buy it at operating cost and then sell on at market cost something like that. The return you get is the difference between the operating cost and the actual market cost 

AntonyTewks

"Octopus will purchase your share of the wind farm’s output and supply it to your home via the grid under either the Co-op Energy or Octopus Energy brand, depending on your chosen tariff.

Octopus will pay the co-op for the electricity generated at the wind farm’s operating cost. At about £0 per MWh this cost is lower than the wholesale market price for electricity which is likely to be about £65 (including REGO and embedded benefit value5).

The difference between the price paid to the co-op and the expected average wholesale price over the life of the wind farm represents a saving of about £45/MWh. You receive this saving for each MWh of electricity your share of the wind farm generates. Octopus passes that saving on to your electricity bill.

This saving is how you benefit from your membership of the co-op. Part of your saving is return of share capital, and part is trading benefit."

AntonyTewks

And should say I've 'invested' a small amount. I felt it a good initiative and wanted to support it 

LundsLuddite

Hello, just joined the forum as we was looking for advice on Ripple Energy. We are on Octopus Go and are thinking of reserving a place on their second wind farm We have to commit to paying a £25.00 reservation fee, then at some stage in the future we can purchase up to 900 watts. We have a few questions 1. How safe is any money we invest? 2. Does anyone know how much we can expect to pay for 900 watts, we live in a rural location so electricity is our main energy source plus we have an EV. So in principle the investing idea seems a good way of helping with our energy requirements. 3. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences they would like to share with us based on the first wind farm? We are not looking to start an in-depth debate about investing in Ripple Energy, just want to get some advice independant to the Ripple corporate marketing advertising. Thanks in advance.

Exiled_Tyke

LundsLuddite said:

Hello, just joined the forum as we was looking for advice on Ripple Energy. We are on Octopus Go and are thinking of reserving a place on their second wind farm We have to commit to paying a £25.00 reservation fee, then at some stage in the future we can purchase up to 900 watts. We have a few questions 1. How safe is any money we invest? 2. Does anyone know how much we can expect to pay for 900 watts, we live in a rural location so electricity is our main energy source plus we have an EV. So in principle the investing idea seems a good way of helping with our energy requirements. 3. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences they would like to share with us based on the first wind farm? We are not looking to start an in-depth debate about investing in Ripple Energy, just want to get some advice independant to the Ripple corporate marketing advertising. Thanks in advance.

I never liked this idea and still don't. There are great ways to support renewables whilst still making relatively secure investments. This simply lacks flexibility. I've always believed in keeping things simple (especially when it comes to investments) and being clear on what is an investment and what is doing the right thing (even if it does save money). For these reasons I'm out. 

QrizB

Exiled_Tyke said:

LundsLuddite said:

Hello, just joined the forum as we was looking for advice on Ripple Energy.

I never liked this idea and still don't. There are great ways to support renewables whilst still making relatively secure investments. This simply lacks flexibility.

I'm in the same camp as Exiled_Tyke, more or less. I like the idea of part-owning a wind farm and I like the concept of owning enough wind generation to offset my electricity use, but the Ripple Energy set-up just doesn't appeal to me.

Coastalwatch

LundsLuddite said:

Hello, just joined the forum as we was looking for advice on Ripple Energy. We are on Octopus Go and are thinking of reserving a place on their second wind farm We have to commit to paying a £25.00 reservation fee, then at some stage in the future we can purchase up to 900 watts. We have a few questions 1. How safe is any money we invest? 2. Does anyone know how much we can expect to pay for 900 watts, we live in a rural location so electricity is our main energy source plus we have an EV. So in principle the investing idea seems a good way of helping with our energy requirements. 3. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences they would like to share with us based on the first wind farm? We are not looking to start an in-depth debate about investing in Ripple Energy, just want to get some advice independant to the Ripple corporate marketing advertising. Thanks in advance.

Hi LL, we are on Octopus Go as well and invested in Ripple Energy's first wind farm as it was a means of securing our own source of clean energy through winter months when output from our PV array simply could not match our energy requirements. 

Likewise we are totally electric having transitioned away from gas last year and run an EV too.

As to how safe your money is? I can only state that having purchased sufficient watts to cover our needs and experienced how well they coped with surviving the effects of covid that we then invested in Ripple themselves. Not only because we have faith in their leadership and how well they operate but also to support the expansion of community based energy generation to give as many people as possible the opportunity of owning a share in it. 

On their first wind farm each Watt cost £1.65. If their second is similarly priced then you can work it out from there. It would be best to scrutinise their offer on the second wind farm though in case this differs. Checking on the website this morning it would appear to be £1559!

Getting excited now by the prospect of Craig Fartha coming online in December!

Hope the above helps!

JKenH

I still don’t see this as a great investment. Your upside is limited to 2% if wholesale electricity prices are at least £65/MWh but you run the risk of not seeing all your capital returned if they fall below that. 

If prices are above £65 you don’t get any benefit but presumably some other party does: Ripple or Octopus, I don’t know which. 

So you as an investor you carry the risk if prices fall and someone else picks up the profit with no risk. As Coastalwatch, has done, you might be better investing in Ripple than their wind farm. 

Martyn1981

Coastalwatch said:

LundsLuddite said:

Hello, just joined the forum as we was looking for advice on Ripple Energy. We are on Octopus Go and are thinking of reserving a place on their second wind farm We have to commit to paying a £25.00 reservation fee, then at some stage in the future we can purchase up to 900 watts. We have a few questions 1. How safe is any money we invest? 2. Does anyone know how much we can expect to pay for 900 watts, we live in a rural location so electricity is our main energy source plus we have an EV. So in principle the investing idea seems a good way of helping with our energy requirements. 3. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences they would like to share with us based on the first wind farm? We are not looking to start an in-depth debate about investing in Ripple Energy, just want to get some advice independant to the Ripple corporate marketing advertising. Thanks in advance.

Hi LL, we are on Octopus Go as well and invested in Ripple Energy's first wind farm as it was a means of securing our own source of clean energy through winter months when output from our PV array simply could not match our energy requirements. 

Likewise we are totally electric having transitioned away from gas last year and run an EV too.

As to how safe your money is? I can only state that having purchased sufficient watts to cover our needs and experienced how well they coped with surviving the effects of covid that we then invested in Ripple themselves. Not only because we have faith in their leadership and how well they operate but also to support the expansion of community based energy generation to give as many people as possible the opportunity of owning a share in it. 

On their first wind farm each Watt cost £1.65. If their second is similarly priced then you can work it out from there. It would be best to scrutinise their offer on the second wind farm though in case this differs. Checking on the website this morning it would appear to be £1559!

Getting excited now by the prospect of Craig Fartha coming online in December!

Hope the above helps!

Hiya CW, I'm also looking forward to their next WT.

Just to say that your investment buys part of the WT, and makes you a shareholder in the co-operative company that will own it, after being built by CleanEarthEnergy. Ripple are just the facilitators, so even if they went bust, it wouldn't make a difference to the WT scheme.

[I'll PM you details of another renewable energy and sustainability discussion forum I'm on, with lots of info, and pro's and con's.]

Coastalwatch

LundsLuddite said:

Hello, just joined the forum as we was looking for advice on Ripple Energy. We are on Octopus Go and are thinking of reserving a place on their second wind farm We have to commit to paying a £25.00 reservation fee, then at some stage in the future we can purchase up to 900 watts. We have a few questions 1. How safe is any money we invest? 2. Does anyone know how much we can expect to pay for 900 watts, we live in a rural location so electricity is our main energy source plus we have an EV. So in principle the investing idea seems a good way of helping with our energy requirements. 3. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences they would like to share with us based on the first wind farm? We are not looking to start an in-depth debate about investing in Ripple Energy, just want to get some advice independant to the Ripple corporate marketing advertising. Thanks in advance.

I have to confess to being disappointed that only four of us responded to LL's request for feedback on Ripples offer. Of those only one chose to make an investment to fix the wholesale price of their energy for 25 years. Initially it appeared to suggest to me a simple case of 1 positive and 3 negative experiences.

Now I quite accept three chose not to invest, but as Ripples offer was clear, such that we were all able to arrive at a conclusion that suited our own circumstances then shouldn't our collective experience be described as Positive!

Of course with energy prices hot topic in the news currently, I'm not feeling smug at all about fixing our future wholesale price at £20/MWh!