Aberdeen Community Energy (Ace) said yesterday it had met a £600,000 fundraising target five days ahead of schedule, taking total investment in its River Don hydro-electricity project to £1.25million.
The bond offer, guaranteeing investors a fixed-rate 4% return, was launched last autumn.
A community share offer, with a 7%, return, raised £500,000 earlier last year.
The Donside Hydro scheme has been generating electricity to sell to the national grid since September.
It is expected to generate many thousands of pounds for a community fund, plus enough electricity to power the equivalent of around 130 homes every year.
Announcing the end of a successful bond offer, ACE founder and chairman Sinclair Laing said: “We are to say the least absolutely ecstatic to see the financial part of this project reach the finish line.
“While there’s still a lot of work to do when it comes to the riverside transformation and community objectives of the project, we have a fully functioning and funded hydro scheme, which is no mean feat.
“People from Aberdeen, Scotland and beyond have showed faith in the power of community renewables to the sum of £1.25million and we’d like to thank them for their support and welcome them to the team.
“It’s also important to mention that we wouldn’t be where we are today without the Scottish Government-led Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (Cares), their selected support agency, Local Energy Scotland and our developers, Highland Eco-Design.
“These organisations bought completely into our vision and were instrumental in moving the project forward, in terms of funding and expertise.”
The Scottish Government is now targeting one gigawatt of community and locally-owned renewable-energy generation in Scotland by 2020, having met a 500 megawatt goal for 2020 five years early.
Business innovation and energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said: “I am delighted to hear the good news from Aberdeen Community Energy and the Donside Hydro.
“It is yet another positive step for the future of Scotland’s energy.”
