The British crowdfunding body Trillion Fund stops offering lending for renewable energy projects.
Additionally, CEO Julia Groves steps down from her position.
The main reason why Trillion stops offering renewable energy projects is the current withdrawal of support for renewables by the UK government. The recent changes in renewable energy policy in the UK have negatively affected investor confidence and made a lot of PV and wind power developers unsure whether they would be able to stay in business.
According to Trillion, fresh finance is on hold until the company has a clearer view of the kind of projects that might be available and can estimate the investor’s mood. Instead of renewables, Trillion wants to focus on offering white-label, technology and crowdfunding administration services to other businesses across all sectors. Alternatively, Trillion mentioned that the company could consider a sale.
The new orientation is the reason why up until now CEO Julia Groves will step down from her position and will immediately be replaced by Theresa Burton, the current Deputy CEO and COO, and co-founder of Buzzbnk (an online crowdfunding platform for social enterprises and charities, which merged with Trillion Fund last year). Groves will remain as a Director on the Board of the company and will continue to advise.
The company assures all investors that any money they have invested into a renewable project with Trillion is safe, since each loan on the platform is an individual contract between the lender and the company borrowing money. In general the loans are to be held for the term of the contract (usually between three and five years) and interests will be continued to be paid by the borrowers. Trillion will continue to manage those payments on behalf of the borrowers and lenders for the renewable energy projects (E2 Energy, E5 Energy and The Converging World).