“Real climate action to be proud of:” UK’s largest people-owned wind farm powers up

British energy services company Ripple Energy has officially powered up the Kirk Hill wind farm, the largest people-owned facility in operation in the UK.

The Kirk Hill wind farm is located in the west of Scotland and consists of 8 turbines, boasting a total capacity of nearly 19MW, enough energy to power the equivalent of over 20,000 households and businesses.

It is part-owned by 5,600 customers, and the latest update from Ripple Energy shows that at least one of the 8 wind turbines is now generating power and supplying it to the grid.

“With each member owning an average of a credit card sized slice of this incredible wind farm, they are actively changing the landscape of green energy in the UK,” Ripple Energy said on social media.

“That’s real climate action to be proud of.”

Backed by nearly 4,000 crowdfunded investors, Ripple Energy partners with utilities to enable co-ownership of large-scale wind farms and solar parks, delivering clean energy directly to co-owners.

Customers are invited to make a one-off payment to acquire a share in the project through a managed co-operative that gives them a direct share of the solar or wind farm.

Ripple Energy is then able to build the project, and upon completion, the buyer’s energy supplier buys electricity from the project and supplies it directly to the customer’s home through the grid.

Kirk Hill’s co-owners are expected to begin seeing immediate savings on their electricity bills.

News of Kirk Hill’s start of operations came only days after Ripple announced that British Gas, Ecotricity, EDF, and E.ON Next had become the latest suppliers to offer customers the opportunity to be involved with a Ripple managed co-operative.

Kirk Hill is its second wind farm to begin operation, following on the heels of the Graig Fatha wind farm, which began generating electricity for its 900 co-owners in March, 2022.

Two other projects are in the works, including the 42MW Derril Water solar park which is expected to be energised sometime early in 2025, and the 57MW Whitelaw Brae wind farm which is currently in the middle of its share offer.