This is probably more for UK users(sorry), but I was discussing this earlier today, and it sounds an interesting concept.
The idea being, that you can purchase a share in a new wind farm, up to a level that is expected to be the equivalent to cover up to 120% of your electricity usage. The energy generated from the farm is bought by your electricity company, and you are given a discount to your energy bill at the wholesale rate.
The total effective return is expected to be 4.9% over 25 years.
They say that a holding of £1714, would be enough to save you £125 a year on your energy bill. Yes this is more akin to 7.2%, but we need to take into account maintenance and lifespan of the equipment, which I believe is why the effective return reduces to 4.9%.
This still seems an appealing concept, to partially lock in or help reduce my energy costs.
Your electricity isn’t free. You still need to pay taxes and grid costs which make up an electricity bill, as well as wind farm’s operating costs. We estimate your share of the ownership could reduce your electricity bill by around 25% over the wind farm’s 25 year lifetime.
I’m still mulling it over, but trying to work out how it compares to clean energy companies/trusts, specifically in the Wind sector.