There really is no excuses for not going green anymore, screw what the government are saying they are only interested in profit, if you want to your kids to have a planet to live on, then you / we need to be doing something about it NOW!
I was lucky enough to be able to put 14 * 450 watt panels on my shed roof In November and although it winter and they are not producing to their capacity I am already starting to see significant savings, I have also installed 5.9Kw of battery which I use to load shift at night for cheaper electricity during the day, and then also storing any additional solar output during the day (anything remaining is sold ti the grid (not an awful lot yet lol)).
my intention of course is to expand this system with at least double the batteries and probably another 16 -20 panels on the main roof of the house.
But beyond my own home what else can I do to go green, well say hello to Ripple Energy, Ripple are a coop that build commercial wind and solar farms, In which you as a cooperative member can purchase shares, so that once the wide / solar farm is built and operational you will receive your chunk of the exports back via your energy bill, you do however need to be a customer of one of the participating energy companies for my money thats Octopus Energy, but other energy companies are participating also.
I personally have put £1,200 into this particular development, with the intention to do the same amount in each of Ripples future developments and slowly build up my green energy investment. To give you an idea of the economics of this investment, Derril Water is designed with a 40 year production lifespan, and I am estimated to produce around £120 per annum of green electricity from my investment, so in 10 years I am paid off and for the next 30 years I get approx £120 a year (this is based on wholesale electricity prices, so can go up or down). which should give me energy security well into my nineties.
Needless to say if you keep investing you could even wind up with a surplus, this is certainly thew position I want to get too.
Because of a peculiar set of circumstances that occurred with multi-builds etc at Ripple we managed to get in on the Derril Water development quite late in it’s construction which means we won’t have too long to wait before it becomes productive (Q3 2024) although usually this would be more like 18 months before you start to see your return trickling back in.
Needless to say I will report back as the project progresses so you can see for yourself how the investment plays out. It is my intention to log all my returns from each build to demonstrate the value in this kind of investment.
If you want to know more or get involved then follow this link to Ripple Energy and sign up today! And yes if you sign up from the link we both get a £25 credit but not until the project you invest in actually starts generating.