SCOTTISH investments company the ILI Group has launched a bond offering landowners and farmers the chance to get involved in what is being touted as one of the country’s largest renewable energy storage projects.

When it comes to fruition, it is envisaged that the project's 'pumped storage hydro' energy system will provide up to 1.2 gigawatts of clean renewable energy to the grid, alongside the construction of up to 5000 energy efficient homes at various locations throughout the country.

The ILI Group of companies have worked with landowners and the farming community for the past fourteen years and claims a strong reputation for attaining successful planning applications for renewable energy projects throughout the country.

Intelligent Land Investments, set up in 2004, dealt exclusively with residential projects and has two in North Lanarkshire in the final stages of the planning process, and expects to deliver over 550 houses this year. Sister company ILI (Renewable Energy) was set up in 2009 to exclusively deal with single wind turbine developments, and subsequently achieved 96 successful planning consents.

However with the single wind turbine market slowing down, CEO Mark Wilson has redirected the company to create an opportunity for landowners and farmers to share in the returns that energy storage and residential development can achieve.

“Energy storage will be the next step in achieving full energy security,” said Mr Wilson. “The Scottish Government’s consultation on our energy future highlights the need for effective and reliable energy storage solutions throughout the country. We believe that pumped storage hydro offers the best solution as it is the most advanced and most proven of all storage options.

“It works by having two large bodies of water, with one set above the other," he explained. "During peak times when a large amount of energy is required, water drops from the higher reservoir to the lower through a series of turbines generating the necessary electricity. Then during off-peak times, most likely at night, renewable energy surplus, mainly from onshore wind, is used to pump the water back up to the top reservoir essentially creating a massive battery.

“The technology his well proven and can last for over 100 years," he said. "We are working closely with a number of landowners in Scotland, plus have support from industry leaders such as SSE, Scottish Water, Aecom and many others.

“At the same time, we are expanding our residential arm and have secured new sites with high potential for development as well as continuing to source others. Scotland’s need for new homes has been well documented and with the focus now on energy efficiency, our plans for new developments fall very much into that category."

To that end, ILI plans to include a renewable heat source as well as the latest energy efficiency technologies in all its residential developments.

Mr Wilson continued: “We have worked with many landowners over the years, providing income to those on whose land our projects were developed – however unfortunately not all sites were suitable for development. In our view too many missed out on this welcome income due to unsuitable land, so for this new project we are offering landowners and farmers exclusive access to a bond issue which will part fund the project and give them a share in the profits.

“With onshore wind we created over £61M of construction work and over £234 million of future revenue," he claimed. "The majority off these projects were funded by big corporate companies. This time we are giving all the landowners and farmers the opportunity to reap these big returns.

“We are extremely proud of what have achieved and what we have planned for the future. The bond purchase will give all landowners and farmers the opportunity to make three times their investment which is fantastic but the norm for big London funds,” he said.

For more information on the ILI Group and the bond purchase, contact the company’s Hamilton office on 01698 891352 or by e-mail to ah@ili-energy.com