• New Swindon solar bond attracts over £500k in first weekend
• Secretary of State Sajid Javid praises innovative infrastructure funding

The UK’s first green energy ISA (Individual Savings Account) just launched by Abundance Investment has already attracted over £1 million in investment. It is the UK’s first Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) to allow ordinary people to invest directly in renewable energy, tax-free.
 
Over £500k has already poured into Abundance’s second Swindon solar bond which went live on Friday. The debentures can be held in the tax-free ISA wrapper and will fund a new solar farm on a Council-owned former landfill site at Chapel Farm in Blunsdon, Swindon. The bond will have an average annual rate of return of 6% for a period of 20 years with a minimum investment of just £5. It follows the very successful launch earlier this year of the UK’s first council solar bond in partnership with Swindon Borough Council, which sold out a month early.
 
The significance of this innovative project has been recognised by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, MP. He said: “This is an excellent example of a local council working with the private sector to provide local people with a means of investing in their local community and its infrastructure. I wish it every success.”
 
Bruce Davis, cofounder and Joint Managing Director, Abundance, said: “We want to turn investing in ISAs from something gathering dust in the forgotten corner of a bank or riding the roller coaster of global stock markets into something that makes a difference in the real world. Investors’ money will be working harder than it would in the bank, boosting the UK’s green economy and sustainable infrastructure, and returns will be tax-free. Our second Swindon solar bond is just the start – we’ve got other exciting ISA investments which can help ordinary people match their financial aspirations with their environmental values.”
 
The new Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) has been made possible following a Government announcement that from 1st November, the IFISA can include peer-to-peer investments such as debentures, allowing individuals to invest directly into businesses and projects.
 
Swindon resident Michael Szymanski, who has opened an Abundance ISA, said: “Energy diversity and energy independence is the way forward for the UK. Keeping the lights on through independent, local, renewable energy production is a must as part of the UK’s future energy production. We cannot rely solely on importehttps://www.yourindustrynews.com/files/d russian gas or imported saudi oil. i believe that locally produced electricity through renewable means must be part of our forward thinking energy mix.”
 
The new solar farm is expected to make a contribution from profits towards community initiatives and will help Swindon move even closer to its goal to install 200MW of renewable capacity by 2020, enough to meet the equivalent electricity requirements of every home in the Borough. Completion of Chapel Farm, which would have a capacity of 5 megawatts (MW), would take the total to 167MW – over 80% of the target.
 
The solar farm already has planning consent and has been developed by Public Power Solutions (PPS), a wholly owned company of Swindon Borough Council. It will be managed by a new limited company, wholly owned by Swindon Borough Council, and will start to generate energy by Spring next year. It will cost £5.4m to construct, with £3m coming from the council’s investment, and the remaining £2.4m from investors in the local community and across Britain, via Abundance.
 
Swindon Borough Council has already been approached by other local authorities looking to replicate its innovative solar bond model for funding green infrastructure. Revenues will be raised from selling the electricity generated, as well as support from the Renewable Obligation scheme (RO).
 
Councillor Dale Heenan, Swindon Borough Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Sustainability said: “I am proud that Swindon is the home of the UK’s first green energy ISA, following our very successful solar bond earlier this year. With interest rates still at rock bottom levels, the Abundance Innovative Finance ISA is a great way for people to invest in renewable energy tax-free.
 
“This project marries the economic benefits of renewables with finding an innovative way for local residents to receive a healthy return on investing, it delivers a tangible financial benefit to local public services, and Swindon Council is even using part of its profits to build a much-needed sound barrier along the A419 dual carriageway! This is a hugely positive scheme.”
 
Abundance Investment has successfully raised over £20m for 20 different projects in the past four years. Abundance Investment is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.