Brighton Energy Coop has announced that it has raised the £280,000 required for the first phase of its solar project in five weeks.
The energy coop received around £10,000 a day in funding from investors looking to take advantage of the solar scheme. The phase one funding will go towards the construction of a 200kWp array at Shoreham Port. Electricity generated from the array will be fed into a nearby office block as well as back into the national grid. Construction of this project has now begun with 26 pallets of solar modules set to be delivered to the port. The site is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The coop is now moving onto the second phase of its fundraising effort which aims to hit £420,000 to fund another 200kWp array at Shoreham Port. In total, Brighton Energy Coop is aiming to install solar arrays on seven buildings totalling 500kWp of capacity before summer 2014.
Brighton Energy Coop is offering investors in the scheme a 5% return on their investment, with returns expected to rise in the future due to the index-linked nature of the feed-in tariff scheme.