Community Energy for Goulburn (CE4G) is well on its way to raising $2 million from the community to start construction of a community-owned solar farm.
“In just nine days since we launched the investment offer, we raised over $1.2 million towards our target,” said CE4G President, Peter Fraser.
“It just goes to show how much appetite there is for quality ethical investment options, especially when the profits get returned to the community,” he said.
“We want to thank the people of Goulburn for the confidence they’ve shown in the project and their commitment to renewable energy in this region,” said Mr Fraser.
The Goulburn Solar Farm will be built on land off Bridge Street next to the railway line and has the backing of the NSW Government with a substantial grant of $2M. The rest of the equity is being raised from local investors through a cooperative that’s been set up to run the project.
At the first public meeting less than two weeks ago local investors stumped up over half a million dollars, and following a webinar last week the total investment raced past the one million mark and now sits at over $1.2M and still rising.
Vice President Ed Suttle said it’s been an amazing response from the community, with investments ranging from as low as $400 right up to $400,000.
“We are now very confident of reaching our target, especially as we still have one more public meeting to go this week,” he said.
“We’ve had enquiries from all over Australia wanting to invest, but locals have the first bite of the cherry. If we still need to make up any shortfall we know there are plenty of people wanting to get in on the opportunity from outside the area,” he said.
“So I’m urging any locals who are still interested in investing to get in quickly because from November 20th we’re opening up the offer to others outside the region, some of whom are already in the queue,” said Mr Suttle.
Anyone still interested in attending the final public meeting on November 4th should register through the website: goulburnsolarfarm.com.au
