Annual Performance Summaries 2017/18 Solar 2014 + Solar 2016 Sandford Hydro ONCORE: A & B www.lowcarbonhub.org Low Carbon Hub, 9 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HH • [email protected] Solar 2014 Investment Portfolio ......................... 4 LOW CARBON HUB contents Solar 2016 Investment Portfolio ......................... 6 Sandford Hydro Investment Portfolio ............. 8 at a glance ONCORE Investment Portfolio .........................10 Background notes .....................................................14 Dear Member enables the initiative to offer schools cheaper electricity and for the projects to make a surplus, These portfolio summaries have been created to 100% of which is used to support local community PLANET people give you an insight into the environmental and action on climate change. The Feed-in tariff closes financial performance of your investment over for new registrations in March 2019 so the race the last financial year. is on to get as many schools installed with solar Since its inception more than six years ago, the panels before the deadline. Low Carbon Hub has successfully raised over £4 Finally, I am thrilled to be able to announce the million of investment from our supporters, just launch of our new share offer: renewable energy installations* investor members who between The Community 808 like you, enabling us to deliver three portfolios Energy Fund. As with our previous share offers, 38 them have invested £4.1 million to finance the of community-owned hydro and rooftop solar Together they can: £ investment will be put to good use supporting costs of our projects and whose investments PV renewable energy projects. community energy. However, partly in response bring energy into community ownership Key highlights during the year included the to investor feedback, it has some new features. completion of Sandford Hydro, the largest These include: – the schools, co2 33 host organisations community-owned hydro on the Thames and l Interest accrued from the day your businesses and community organisations the installation of our 38th renewable installation investment is accepted by the Low that host our energy projects at Sonning Common Primary School. generate power save Carbon Hub The end of the year also saw the transfer of GWh 27 community shareholders – the low l A target interest rate of 5% a year 4.2 1,351 1,562 solar PV arrays situated at St Barnabas Primary green electricity typical homes carbon community groups who share our (capped at 4% for the first four years) tonnes School and the Cherwell School. We are delighted a year of CO aims and have a stake in us 2 to welcome ONCORE investors to the Low l The right to apply to withdraw your Carbon Hub and include details of their portfolio capital from the fourth year of investment performance here for the first time. From the (availability of funds permitting) 2018/19 financial year, we will also incorporate We aim to raise £1 million by 31 July. This will the contribution of these projects into our overall enable us to put as much solar PV on schools before ? performance reporting. £ prosperity perception the Feed-in Tariff comes to an end at the end of the The year also saw the first interest payments being financial year, and buy out existing project debt, made to 2014 Solar investors, in line with our enabling the Fund to start accruing the funds to anticipated payment schedule for the portfolio. pay interest to investors from day one. Another key financial milestone was reached, You can read more at www.lowcarbonhub.org/ We are committed to developing a sustainable with total community benefit to date hitting the share capital raised invest. £4.1m energy system for community benefit. £250,000 mark. Our Social Impact Report and debt plus additional funding to support newsletters give regular feedback on how this With best wishes £3.7M And our stakeholders agree… our projects has been put to good use, including offering believe we are committed to the grants, support and advice to support local action £7.8M capital expended on renewable creation of a low carbon, locally to tackle climate change across Oxfordshire. energy installations 96% owned renewable energy system The current financial year is our last opportunity Our portfolio of renewable energy installations is to register new solar PV operations to benefit from Barbara Hammond anticipated to deliver the following benefits over trust our expertise around the Feed-in tariff. Green electricity generation CEO their lifetime: local, renewable energy and currently benefits from the Feed-in Tariff, which Low Carbon Hub 98% low carbon £4.7m interest to investors £1.6m savings on electricity bills by hosts sign up to hear from us £2.4m community benefit income Would you like to receive details of our community share offers, renewable project * Including IPS and CIC-owned installations. updates and news, and updates on community benefit projects? Sign up to receive Metrics as calculated 31 March 2018 and reflect the combined work of The Low Carbon Hub IPS Limited and Low Carbon Hub CIC. Lifetime benefits are nominal values modelled over a 20-year project lifetime. Perception statistics based on 124 responses to the ‘How are we doing?’ Low Carbon Hub stakeholder survey March 2018. the Low Carbon Hub newsletter on our website: www.lowcarbonhub.org 3 Solar 2014 Monthly generation results Investment Portfolio 150,000 100,000 KWh Investment in the Low Carbon Hub 2014 share offer allowed the first wave of Low 50,000 Carbon Hub Solar projects to be built. This report provides a performance summary of that first wave of solar projects for the 2017/18 financial year. Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2017 2018 2018 2018 Export Forecast generation Actual generation Performance review projects in this portfolio The total generation from the 2014 share offer pipeline l Oxford Bus Company this year was 961,456 kWh. This is compared to a forecast l Banbury Academy (two installations) of 1,031,700 kWh – a shortfall of 7%. As can be seen About investment in this portfolio from the monthly breakdown, this is mostly due to a less l Bure Park Primary School key facts Class A shares are in the form of ‘withdrawable’ shares that productive summer than anticipated as 2017 was the l Charlbury Primary School Projects cannot be sold, traded or transferred between Members. wettest summer on record (Met Office 2017). They cannot increase in value. l Cheney School Number of installations 21 There were ten pioneer investors who hold Class B Another factor affecting performance is the build-up l Chilton County Primary School Total installed capacity 1.215 MW transferable shares to the value of £150,000. Their of dirt on panels with the first installed panels coming l Edward Feild School investment was through a private placement in 2013 in below their predicted performance. To help ensure Funding l and enabled us to install our first solar PV array at the optimal performance, we have started a round of cleaning Fir Tree Junior School Total number of shareholders 356 Oxford Bus Company. As set out in the 2014 Share Offer as part of our Operations and Maintenance. l Larkrise Primary School Number of Class A investors 346 Document this installation has been incorporated into l Norbar Torque Tools The impact on income has been somewhat offset by a small the 2014 Portfolio and their return has been aligned to the Number of Class B investors 10 rise in electricity prices during this period. The Feed-in l Owen Mumford (four installations) terms set out in the 2014 share offer, so all payments to Tariff rate is index-linked to Retail Prices Index (RPI) and l Stonesfield School Amount initially invested £ 1,844,000 these investors are made on the same basis as Solar 2014 on 1 April 2017 it rose by 2.5% on the previous year’s rates. investors. l The Warriner School Capital returned £ 0 £200,000 of the investment from this share raise is used l Thomas Reade Primary School Remaining investment capital £ 1,844,000 anticipated returns as working capital and is currently deployed under a loan l West Kidlington Primary School In the first year of their investment, investors eligible for agreement between Low Carbon Hub IPS Limited and Current debt funding towards capital costs £ 0 l Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) were able to claim Sandford Hydro Limited at an interest rate of 5%. Wheatley Park School (two installations) Lifetime anticipated benefits back 30% of their initial investment as tax relief. Investors Interest to investors £ 1,490,344 eligible for Seed EIS were able to claim back 50% of their initial investment. Savings on electricity bills by hosts performance: 2014 portfolio £ 1,122,440 Returns Interest was forecast to start to accrue from the end of Community benefit income This financial year: the second full year of operation, a target that has been Electricity generation from this portfolio £ 1,012,745 Interest declared per £ invested 5.4p successfully met. Total generation this year 961,456 kWh Expressed as nominal values and based on current equity levels. Total interest due to investors £ 99,576 Excludes benefits derived from the working capital element. As set out in the original Share offer Document we As a percentage of predicted output 93.2% anticipate for every £10,000 you invest, you could get back Savings on electricity bills by hosts £ 27,491 CO2 savings 370 tonnes £21,123 after 20 years: your £10,000 initial capital; £3,000 Total IPS community benefit donation* £ 100,000 as EIS tax relief; and £8,123 as interest. CO2 savings based on UK electricity CO2 intensities of 0.38443 kgCO2e/kWh (2017) Cumulative to date: Capital returns Interest to investors £ 191,776 It is anticipated that capital will be gradually returned Savings on electricity bills by hosts £ 86,915 to investors from year 4, with a number of shares being Total IPS community benefit donation* £ 256,627 bought back each year such that all shares are bought back 20 years after installation.