Our members have bought shares in Corwen for various reasons – this is what some of them have said about why they became members:
“I’m supporting Corwen Electricity Co-operative because it is exactly the type of small-scale, community-owned, sustainable energy project we should be developing to ensure our energy security for the future.”
J. Stacey, Oxfordshire
“I’m delighted to have been able to subscribe to the Corwen Electricity Co-op which is an excellent opportunity to support a local initiative which offers both me and the community a worthwhile return whilst delivering clean sustainable energy.”
Andrew Jedwell, Denbighshire
“I have invested because Corwen is the closest Community share investment opportunity to my home.
This investment enables me to benefit from EIS tax reliefs and defer the tax due (CGT) from the sale of a second property whilst also supporting local renewable energy.”
Trevor Anderson, Plymouth
I have been fascinated by small scale hydroelectric schemes since, as a young boy, staying on a small country estate in the Scottish Borders which was powered, off grid, by its own turbine, fed from a weir on the Whiteadder. The lights frequently dimmed, or went off altogether while the sawmill was in operation. Investing in the Corwen scheme takes me back to that magic of getting power ‘for free, from water.
John Sandison, Shrewsbury
Although I’m not local to Corwen, I like to support clean energy wherever it’s produced, but especially when the community benefits so much.
Renewable energy co-operatives provide the best of all worlds – carbon-free power, worthwhile investment, communities coming together.
F Hodges, Warwickshire
As an engineer within the renewables industry I invested in the Corwen Co-op because I know that the industrial revolution started with the water wheel, now things have come full circle. I think it is rather exciting.
Mr A Dickson, Grimsby
I am a supporter of renewable energy, and with tax breaks the returns are very good, far better then most investments, I also like the area.
Mick Isaacs, Eastbourne
I have chosen to invest in Corwen because it is hydro power and I believe compared with other green energy sources, hydro power has the least impact on the local environment and is the most consistent generator.
R Horne, North-east England
I invest into several energy-coops-projects in the UK, because if most of those who are able to support such kind of projects, we might stop climate change by additional 2°C.
For me buying shares or giving a loan is an economic approach and therefore important to me in this context, becauseit is mobilizing more money compared to giving a few Pounds as a gift for a “good project”.
Environmental problems, and especially global warming in the last two decades, made me think, that my investments should have a double interest (money for me and a social interest for the society). That is a good point of view in case one projects doesn’t reach its economic targets. It makes it less disappointing!
Most banks do things I do not want to promote. Therefore I started to invest my money by myself. I am focused espacially on renewable energies. First I made investments only in Germany. In a second step I was searching for further projects in Austria and Switzerland. Now I am also focusing the UK and it seems to me as if there is still a lot of enthusiasm in it. Usually I invest a few hundered or thousand GBP in each project in order to avoid risks. I do not wantto depend on the development of only one or a few enterprises.
Well, as it is now one of my ambitions to support the British environmental movement in the described manner, I regard each wind power stations and each solar panel being erected as a protest against nuclear power stations (and coal power stations) in order to make them useless and worthless.
Therefore from my point of view the UK-government should give up their idea of building even new nuclear power stations. What a strange idea, especially after Fukushima! And can anyone explain why a nuclear power station with all its problems should receive FiT? And finally for even more years than the renewables?
Well, it seems as if it is still a long way to go, but maybe even therefore I like to accompany this project as “another brick in the wall”!
Dr. Florian von Sothen, Germany