What is the co-operative model of renewable energy development?
The co-operative model of renewable energy development depends on member and community investment to raise capital for projects, regardless of whether or not it is acting as a for-profit or not-for-profit. Investment from the community takes place through a process referred to as a community investment offering – through shares, bonds, member loans, or other mechanisms. This usually occurs before construction can begin, but after a number of important steps have been completed such as the wind resource assessment, the environmental assessment and negotiations around who is going to buy the power produced by the turbine. Return on member investment is distributed to members based on the price that the power produced is sold for and the revenue generated as a result. At this time, PPC is currently structured as a co-op without share capital and does not have an offering statement in place yet. This means that your membership fee is not invested directly in any of our projects, but gives
