Ripple Energy wind farm?

Exiled_Tyke

imeldamarcos said:

I notice that in the latest news, the timeline for starting the turbines has slipped from "November 2023" (as given below) to "2023/2024". Slightly alarmed that no month is given in the 2023/2024 estimate. I will ask Ripple Energy's CEO to explain why the project is already behind schedule as, even allowing for the delay in raising funds, it should still have started generating by the end of 2023.

Project timeline: At a glance

May 2022
Share offer closes

May 2022
Pre-construction preparation

July 2022
Track works start

September 2022
Crane hardstandings construction

December 2022
Turbine Foundations works start

January 2023
Grid connection works

February 2023
Control building construction

July 2023
Turbine deliveries begin

November 2023
Turbines start

Where is this new timescale published? I can still only find reference to the Nov start. 

imeldamarcos

The "2023/2024" timeline was in an annoucement which I believe was made by Enercon to which Exiled_Tyke kindly supplied the following link to:

https://www.enercon.de/en/news/news-detail/cc_news/show/News/enercon-receives-order-from-ripple-energy-for-eight-e-92-wind-turbines/

I enquired about this to Ripple Energy and they responded quickly and said today that the indicative timeline for Turbines Start remains November 2023 so I think Enercon must have a vaguer view of the commissioning date than Ripple appears to have. I also checked out Enercon on the internet and found the below 2 headlines. It is clear that this is a troubled company, with the last CEO resigning after about a year in the job at the end of 2021. The current CEO, Jurgen Zeschky, is trying to turn round the company and the Chief Sales Officer (who is in the process of leaving) is re-organising customer-related functions as the company tries to re-orientate itself.  I hope the company is successful in sorting itself out, but I think its perfornance, particularly with regard to meeting deadlines, needs to be monitored carefully.

May 2020.

Major investor withdraws from Swedish wind farm after massive delays 

British investment trust The Renewables Infrastructure Group has withdrawn from Northern Sweden's 229 MW Ersträsk wind farm after Enercon's major delivery delays lasting more than one and a half years.

Feb. 2022 

'It's bitter' | New mountain to climb for flagship wind farm after blades cracks spotted

EXCLUSIVE | Following a massive effort to complete Hohenlochen wind farm last year, blades from half of Enercon machines at German Black Forest showcase project face replacement.

Exiled_Tyke

imeldamarcos said:

The "2023/2024" timeline was in an annoucement which I believe was made by Enercon to which Exiled_Tyke kindly supplied the following link to:

https://www.enercon.de/en/news/news-detail/cc_news/show/News/enercon-receives-order-from-ripple-energy-for-eight-e-92-wind-turbines/

I enquired about this to Ripple Energy and they responded quickly and said today that the indicative timeline for Turbines Start remains November 2023 so I think Enercon must have a vaguer view of the commissioning date than Ripple appears to have. I also checked out Enercon on the internet and found the below 2 headlines. It is clear that this is a troubled company, with the last CEO resigning after about a year in the job at the end of 2021. The current CEO, Jurgen Zeschky, is trying to turn round the company and the Chief Sales Officer (who is in the process of leaving) is re-organising customer-related functions as the company tries to re-orientate itself.  I hope the company is successful in sorting itself out, but I think its perfornance, particularly with regard to meeting deadlines, needs to be monitored carefully.

May 2020.

Major investor withdraws from Swedish wind farm after massive delays 

British investment trust The Renewables Infrastructure Group has withdrawn from Northern Sweden's 229 MW Ersträsk wind farm after Enercon's major delivery delays lasting more than one and a half years.

Feb. 2022 

'It's bitter' | New mountain to climb for flagship wind farm after blades cracks spotted

EXCLUSIVE | Following a massive effort to complete Hohenlochen wind farm last year, blades from half of Enercon machines at German Black Forest showcase project face replacement.

Great research, thank you.  Can't believe I found the article but then missed the bit about timescales.  Let's hope Ripple know what they are doing.  Are you minded to ask the question to Ripple about the due diligence they have done on this company?  

Coastalwatch

For those of us who invested in Ripple's first wind farm the date of the open day is 23rd July, so I might just meet up with some of you brave souls there.

We've opted for the noon day session.

imeldamarcos

Thanks very much for your comments Exiled_Tyke.  I am sure that Ripple Energy would confirm that they did due diligence, including risk assessment in relation to the Kirk Hill project as it says on their website that:

"Ripple Energy is a platform that enables co-operative ownership of large-scale renewable energy projects. Ripple identifies suitable projects, undertakes due diligence and then brings together households to collectively purchase the project."

I hope that this due diligence was done in a satisfactory manner. They should have documentary evidence to show that this is the case. I also hope that some members of the Co-operative are willing to become board members as up to 5 Co-op members can be appointed to the board as stated in paragraph 30.4 of the Co-op rules. We can then have a look at the contract with Enercon and act appropriately to help Ripple Energy ensure that there is no slippage in schedules. I will contact Ripple Energy again to try to find out when Co-op members will get a chance to offer themselves to serve on the board and hope there may be others here who might be interested in this.

Exiled_Tyke

imeldamarcos said:

Thanks very much for your comments Exiled_Tyke.  I am sure that Ripple Energy would confirm that they did due diligence, including risk assessment in relation to the Kirk Hill project as it says on their website that:

"Ripple Energy is a platform that enables co-operative ownership of large-scale renewable energy projects. Ripple identifies suitable projects, undertakes due diligence and then brings together households to collectively purchase the project."

I hope that this due diligence was done in a satisfactory manner. They should have documentary evidence to show that this is the case. I also hope that some members of the Co-operative are willing to become board members as up to 5 Co-op members can be appointed to the board as stated in paragraph 30.4 of the Co-op rules. We can then have a look at the contract with Enercon and act appropriately to help Ripple Energy ensure that there is no slippage in schedules. I will contact Ripple Energy again to try to find out when Co-op members will get a chance to offer themselves to serve on the board and hope there may be others here who might be interested in this.

Let me know what you find out. I would be happy to put myself forward if it would be useful. Thanks for your work and DD on this. 

imeldamarcos

Thanks Exiled_Tyke, it's great to know that you would also be willing to help as a board member.

I have now had a response from the company about appointing Co-op members to the board and it was a rapid response I am pleased to say.  However, I was disappointed to find out that Ripple Energy does not intend to do anything about these appointments until the wind farm is "nearning completion" next year.  My personal opinion is that the most critical period of this project is the construction/commissioning phase because any delays could drastically change the financial expectations and such events seem possible bearing in mind the track record of the contractor. Once it is up and running it should be relatively plain sailing. If having Co-op members on the board is a good idea, then why would Ripple Energy not want this representation during the construction phase? Once again, just my opinion, but do other members think it is desirable or perhaps even essential, for Co-op members to be on the board to provide input during the construction phase? 

Exiled_Tyke

imeldamarcos said:

Thanks Exiled_Tyke, it's great to know that you would also be willing to help as a board member.

I have now had a response from the company about appointing Co-op members to the board and it was a rapid response I am pleased to say.  However, I was disappointed to find out that Ripple Energy does not intend to do anything about these appointments until the wind farm is "nearning completion" next year.  My personal opinion is that the most critical period of this project is the construction/commissioning phase because any delays could drastically change the financial expectations and such events seem possible bearing in mind the track record of the contractor. Once it is up and running it should be relatively plain sailing. If having Co-op members on the board is a good idea, then why would Ripple Energy not want this representation during the construction phase? Once again, just my opinion, but do other members think it is desirable or perhaps even essential, for Co-op members to be on the board to provide input during the construction phase? 

I agree with you.  Perhaps they see it as requiring engineering expertise? Or is the argument that members are only buying the completed farm.  I'd feel a lot happier about representation now

Exiled_Tyke

I thought this was appropriate to be posted here. gefnew said:

Here is one for saving the planet and educating young people.
Cornish charity invests in Scottish wind farm for school - BBC News

imeldamarcos

Thanks very much for the update Exiled-Tyke, I'm glad to see that a school is involved in our project.

This morning I had the rest of of my question answered by Ripple Energy. They said that the board of Kirk Hill will be appointed as part of the AGM which will take place "in the near future, possibly after the summer holidays" to enable participants to attend. Ripple will then "look to reach out to all members to put their names forward [for board membership] at this point". I was somewhat concerned about the vagueness of the timescale for this process.

At the moment there is no evidence of slippage in timescales for the project as a whole, apart from the "2023/24" target date published by Enercon so, bearing in mind the delay in appointing Co-op members to the board, I plan to contact Enercon to highlight the fact that Rippple's target date for Turbines Start-up is November 2023, not an unspecified date in 2024. I will ask them to correct the information they have published and see if/how they respond. I will also make it clear to Rippple that this is what I am doing, in the hope that it will clarify things for all concerned.

I have a feeling more member of our project may be looking on Facebook that this forum so I expect to duplicate what I am doing on Facebook.

As regards your suggestion about engineering expertise for board members, this would indeed be useful, but I think that a sprinkling of supportive lay people would also be useful for the board as they may see things from a different perspective and would also be in a better position to exclusively represent the interests of Co-op members. I was one of the resident insiders in a local flood alleviation project near where I live even though I have limited knowedge of flood alleviation. This project involved a multinational contractor and my experience suggests that input from lay people is quite valuable in ensuring that the contractor is held to to account. This may not be needed in our project, but I think it would be useful to have Co-op members in place on the board a.s.a.p just in case.