Hotbed partners-up for wind deal

Over 60 members of investment network Hotbed have teamed up with Burcote Wind to invest £3.3m in the development of six on-shore wind sites.

Investors from Hotbed are providing 85% of the funding required in units of £25,000 and have underwritten £1m of the investment which will be sold over the coming months. Burcote Wind is putting up the remaining 15%. Investments will be drawn down in three equal tranches over a 12 month period.

The management team of Burcote will be led by business manager Graham Brown, who will identify potential sites and manage the planning process.

Renewable energy has recently become a key investment area in the UK as the government has made it a priority. However, there is still room for improvement as only 3-4% of energy comes from renewable sources in the UK. The government is aiming to generate 15% of electricity from renewable sources by 2015 and 20% by 2020.

Chief executive of Hotbed, Gary Robins, said: “With government targets to increase the use of renewable energy a long way from being met there is an urgent need for wind farm sites with planning permission already in place and an increasingly competitive market to acquire them.”