SUSTAINABILITY group PL:21 Transition Initiative has said it was ‘bowled over’ by the number of people that attended a meeting about plans for a community-owned solar energy scheme.

More than 40 joined PL:21 at The Watermark in Ivybridge last Wednesday to find out more about the project, and a bond offer that is helping to raise the necessary funds.

A 4.3 megawatt solar array capable of powering 1,300 homes has been built on brown field, former china clay land at Portworthy Dams, near Lee Moor.

PL:21 aims to set up a local community energy company that will own the solar array, but in the meantime the group has teamed up with not-for-profit industrial and provident society Bath and West Community Energy to raise money to buy the facility as soon as possible.

PL:21 hope that as a community enterprise, the scheme will provide over £20,000 a year for a fund to support local projects.

In order to generate the nearly £1.7 million needed, BWCE is offering investment in a two-year fixed interest bond. Together with nearly a million pounds already raised by the organisation, and a loan of just over £2.5 million, the bond will help reach the purchase cost of £5.089 million.

PL:21 is currently developing a new, local community energy company, which it anticipates will take on the solar array after two years.

The bond offer has already raised more than £1.2 million. The minimum investment is £500, with an interest rate of 5.5 per cent, and the offer will close at the end of January, or sooner if all the bonds sell.

At last week’s event, the audience heard about PL:21’s journey to find the perfect renewable energy project, followed by information on technical and financial aspects of the scheme and current bond offer.

PL:21 said feedback had been ‘generally very positive’, with people appreciating that the array has been built on brown field land.

Katie Reville from the group said: ‘This is a really big and exciting project to be involved in and we are delighted to be working alongside Bath and West Community Energy as they have a lot of experience in this type of project.

‘We are now busy setting up our own local Community Benefit Society so that we can raise the money locally to purchase the solar farm in two years.’

Those interested in finding out more about the bond offer should read the full bond offer document on the PL21 website, www.pl21.weebly.com, as well as all of the terms and conditions on the ethex.org.uk, the online investment platform being used.

The Ivybridge bond offer event was supported by a grant that PL:21 has been awarded through the RegenSW Community Energy Accelerator Devon County Council Fund.