So the emergency budget came and went and where has it left us? According to the IFS the UK faces the “longest, deepest, sustained period of cuts to public services spending at least since World War II”.

With Council Tax rates being capped and massive savings to be made, the axe will likely fall on many local services with Parish budgets coming under particular pressure. With this in mind our Community Co-Ownership Invesment (CCI) wind turbine schemes could prove to be a highly valuable source of income.

How our CCI works

  1. DistGen finds a site and develops along commercial lines, ie contracts the landowner, pre-application consultations through to gaining full planning permission.
  2. If permission is granted, the local parish is awarded a percentage of the turbine income for the lifetime of the scheme. This varies between sites and the number of turbines, but at Shipham village (Somerset) this could be as much as £20,000 per year!
  3. A local Turbine Operating Company is established to own and operate the wind turbine(s) of which share options are allocated for local investment. The options are held open until 15 months after the turbine becomes operational giving potential investors the chance to see actual production data before committing.

There is no doubting the fact that there are hard times ahead for the UK, but if your community is lucky enough to have good wind resource and a suitable site – there’s no reason why you can benefit from wind power.