With the aim to include vulnerable groups in renewable energy investments, the Horizon 2020 project SCORE proposes to use the Consumer Stock Ownership Plan (CSOP) as business model. With this model, an intermediary entity invests in a renewable energy asset and operates it on behalf of different co-owners. It allows for co-investment of municipalities, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and other local stakeholders.
The project’s website provides information and guidance on this financing model, but also includes a simple web-based interactive tool to calculate whether this type of financing would make sense for a group of individuals. This CSOP calculator requires basic inputs, such as the number of households, financial contribution per household, rough technical specifications of the renewable energy plant (PV, wind, CHP), and economic parameters. It then estimates the energy demand and production, the yield, costs and loan repayment, concluding whether the project is feasible and what would be the loan repayment time.
