This is what progress looks like
Tags: Climate Change, News, Tidal Power, Delivery, Innovation

When we created Abundance back in 2011, a million-pound investment in a single wind turbine by ordinary investors putting up as little as £5 was a big deal.

Now all those £5’s (and more) have added up to nearly £100 million across 40 projects. At the same time, millions of people around the world are striking to show their concern for the climate crisis. The development of renewable energy is no longer taking place one village at a time but in projects across the UK — and offshore wind is about to become cheaper than coal. Our investors played their part in that transformation by putting their money to work for a better world. It has been a long journey, but we are starting to see real momentum across the whole clean energy sector as demonstrated by Atlantis.

The first investment from Atlantis, back in the summer of 2017, marked a real turning point in that story. Tim Cornelius of Atlantis came to us as CEO of a tidal company that had big ideas and big projects to finance, and wanted to share them with people like you. Starting with £4.95 million for the development of the MeyGen tidal turbine, Atlantis shared its place at the forefront of the tidal industry’s development. The UK is home to 50% of Europe’s tidal energy capacity, and 1,380 of you gave your support to the world’s leading tidal energy developer.

But the ambition didn’t stop there. While tidal energy emerged as a force for change in the UK energy market, the world woke up to the crisis in the natural world. Atlantis responded with a stated goal to be a powerhouse of the energy transition, which will require a wholesale change in the way we use and produce energy and has been enshrined in law through the Net Zero commitment within the Climate Change Act 2008. Its route to achieving that was to join forces with SIMEC, which would give it the scale and diversification to compete more widely and develop a range of projects to tackle the challenges we face head-on.

Again, Atlantis asked whether you wanted to be part of the journey and again, your response was emphatic. In 2018 1,595 investors raised £4.97 million to help Atlantis acquire the former coal-fired Uskmouth power plant with plans to convert it to run on energy from waste, alongside developing opportunities in tidal barrage. Atlantis has a history of innovation, and Uskmouth presented an opportunity for Atlantis to apply its expertise to addressing the dual challenges of providing stable energy generation and the growing mountain of plastic waste. It was gratifying to see that so many people understood the ambition and were eager to help accelerate its progress.

Naturally there was something in it for you too. Across both investments, investors have collectively received just short of £1.1 million in interest payments — although of course, past performance is not a guide to future returns.

With its latest offer, Atlantis has moved up a gear, aiming to raise just over £7m with a return of 8% interest a year for 5 years. The majority of this money will go to the development of the energy from waste plant, but as the recent announcements from the company show this is part of a wider strategy to grow and develop renewable energy projects across the world.

We need companies like Atlantis SIMEC if the UK is to pull its weight and bring its engineering, technology and commercial expertise to bear in the fight to decarbonise our economies and societies. Every £1 we can raise will support the realisation of that goal.

Risk warning

As with any investment product there are risks. Part or all of your original invested capital may be at risk and any return on your investment depends on the success of the project invested in. You should be prepared to hold Abundance investments for their full term and investments may not be readily realisable. Estimated rates of return can be variable and estimates are no guarantee of actual return. Specific risks will apply in relation to each product. Consider all risks before investing and read the Offer Document for each investment.