Go Solar South East London

Make London’s electricity greener and fairer with South East London Community Energy  (SELCE)

Our second share offer is now live

Join SELCE’s clean energy revolution. We are a non-for-profit co-operative that specialise in raising funds to install solar panels on community buildings in SE London.

We raise the money for our solar projects through ‘community share offers’.  Anyone can become an investor and you can buy shares from a minimum of £250 to a maximum of £20,000.

Shares can be reclaimed after three years and retained investments will be returned automatically after 20 years.

The best thing about a community share offer is that everyone wins:

• the investors receive an annual interest payment of 4%
• the community buildings get lower electricity bills and more money to spend on the things they need
• the solar panels reduce carbon emissions and air pollution
• and any surplus SELCE receives from the project is put into our work to reduce fuel poverty in SE London.

The story so far:

SELCE was formed by a group of SE Londoners two and a half years ago.  None of us knew each other before the co-operative was formed but we all shared a vision of a fairer, healthier, low-carbon future.

We decided to begin making this vision a reality by generating renewable energy that is not just produced locally but that is owned and governed by the people who use it.

We have already made great strides forward. At the end of last year, SELCE’s first share offer raised £250,000 to install 200kWp of solar energy on four primary schools (two in Greenwich and two in Lewisham). Collectively, we have contributed more than 6,000 volunteer-hours and we now have 138 investors.

We have estimated that the four schools will make combined electricity bill savings of £350,000 over the 20-year life of the project.

At the same time, SELCE’s solar arrays will reduce carbon emissions by almost 2,000 metric tons. Plus we’ll have enough surplus to provide one-to-one support for vulnerable people who are having to make the stark choice between eating and heating their homes.

Our second project:

We are now set to launch our second community share offer. This time, we want to raise £120,000 to buy and install 129kWp of solar photovoltaic panels on three schools, an art gallery and a sports club. These are Bannockburn Primary School, Deansfield Primary School and Alderwood Primary School

Taken together these solar arrays will generate more than 113,000 kilowatt-hours of clean, solar electricity each year. They will also:

• save approximately 963000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions over the 20-year project.
• save the communities who use the sites a total of more than £160,000
• provide a fund of £60,000 to further develop our work on reducing fuel poverty.

Where does the money come from?

Income for our projects comes from three sources: Feed-in Tariffs (a Government subsidy designed to support the development of renewable energy); sales of electricity to the sites (at a substantially reduced rate relative to the current electricity costs); and sales of electricity to the grid. This will allow SELCE to maintain and insure the solar array and provide investors with a 4% return investors.

A last investment opportunity for the foreseeable future

Even though the government recently reduced the subsidies for solar generators, SELCE has secured a ‘pre-accredited’ Feed-in Tariff rate that will enable the co-operative to continue to pay investors annual interest of 4%.

However, our ‘pre-accredited’ Feed-in Tariff rate only applies to the buildings in our second community share offer. This is a great opportunity to secure a good rate of interest, support community cohesion and significantly reduce carbon emissions. We urge you to make the most of this offer while it is available.

For answers to frequently asked questions please see http://selce.org.uk/invest-2/

Share offer open: 1st July 2016

Share offer closes: 4th August 2016

Minimum investment per member: £250

Maximum investment per member: £20,000

We are aiming to raise a target investment amount of Target: £120,000 but we are seeking a minimum investment of £30,000 and a maximum of £150,000.

SELCE – making a difference to the lives of Londoners now and in the future.

Risk Warning: Funding pitches through Crowdfunder.co.uk carries some risk. There is no guarantee for members making donations that any reward offered will be delivered. Equally, when members invest in community shares the capital they invest is at risk and they may not get back what they put in. Rewards based crowdfunding and the sale of community shares are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, nor covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Click here to read more about the risks.