Abundance Generation: get 2% Christmas bonus for green investments
Invest at least £50 this December and pocket a 2% bonus.
Investors who put their money in green projects through Abundance Generation can enjoy a Christmas bonus.
As long as you invest £50 or more through the site during December, you enjoy a 2% bonus. That means that the size of your investment will be bumped up, and so (hopefully) will your return.
So a £1,000 investment will be increased to £1,020 by Abundance.
Earn 7.5% a year from 'solar bonds'
Abundance Generation offers investors the chance to put their money into green energy projects. The project currently raising money on Abundance is called Oakapple Berwickshire, and offers investors the chance of a 7.5% return. You can invest from as little as £5 too.
The project involves mounting solar PV (photo-voltaic) systems on the roofs of 749 social-housing homes across Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders.
The lure of this investment is that it offers a high return to investors, backed by revenues from government-funded subsidies for renewable-energy projects. So you have very high yearly returns, plus a high degree of security from government Feed-In Tariffs (FITs).
From launch until the venture goes live on the expected start date of 31st May 2015, investors in this project earn initial interest of 7% a year. After this, and once the solar panels start generating electricity, your capital and interest are returned to you over the project's 20-year lifespan.
Invest through Abundance Generation
Remember the risks
No investment comes entirely free of risk. You must be aware of the following:
- This investment is a debenture, a type of corporate bond commonly used by businesses to borrow money. Any and all cash you put into this bond is not covered by the £85,000 cash savings-net provided by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
- If Oakapple were to go bust, your capital and bond interest would be at risk. In this event, an appointed company administrator would aim to keep up these payments to you.
- You are in for the long haul from the moment you invest in this project. Once these solar panels start generating electricity, your capital and interest are returned to you over 20 years, while producing a lifetime rate of return of 7.5% a year.
- Crowd-funded bonds are highly illiquid investments: buying into them is very easy, but selling out early could well be a challenge. There is no recognised, licensed exchange for trading these bonds, but you could try selling your holding at any time on Abundance's bulletin board. All such sales to date have been at par (original buying prices) or above.
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