Thrive announces £13.6 million operating profit for 2023 with £12.3 million of capital allocated to build new clean energy projects

News

29 May 2024

136,316 MWh of renewable electricity generated over the course of the year.

Article written by anna.cooper

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Annual results, released today, show an operating profit of £13.6 million (£6.7 million in 2022) and a turnover of £29 million (£17.5 million in 2022). £12.3 million of cash has been allocated to building new onshore wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and battery storage, with 25MW brought into operation and 41.5MW in development or construction. A 12 pence per share annual dividend is recommended to be paid in July 2024, subject to approval at the AGM on 28 June*.

Last year our wind, solar and hydro projects generated 136,316 MWh of renewable electricity [1]. That’s enough to power over 42,000 average UK homes, equivalent to a town the size of Preston [2]. Our portfolio of clean energy projects also delivered emissions reductions equivalent to 58,620 tCO2e[3].

“Thrive Renewables has had an excellent year, in which we’ve continued to deliver strong environmental, social and financial performance. We allocated £12.3 million to new wind, solar, storage and geothermal energy projects over the course of 2023, with 25MW brought into operation and 41.5MW in development or construction.

As we enter our 30th year of operation, we have pledged to double the amount of new generation we invest in over the next five years. This starts with funding and we were pleased to have raised £5.1 million via crowdfunding in 2023. We have also committed a further £11 million of cash generated from operations to fund our strong pipeline of projects for 2024 and beyond. As the need for a cleaner energy system only intensifies, we believe that – together – we can build the projects the UK needs to power our daily lives more cheaply and sustainably.”

Matthew Clayton, Managing Director, Thrive Renewables

Thrive Impact 2023

We were pleased to be able to invest in more community energy projects in 2023. This includes investing £4 million in a community-owned wind project in Kilbirnie, Scotland, bringing the total we have committed to community energy projects to date to £20 million. Thrive also became the first commercial battery owner to offer shared ownership to a local community group at the Feeder Road project in Bristol, which entered operation in December 2023.

The social, environmental and financial impact Thrive delivers is recognised in our B Corp status. Early in 2024 we recertified, achieving a new impact score of 131.1 – placing us in the top 3% of all UK B Corps.

As we approach our thirtieth year of building and funding clean energy projects, we are committed to doubling the amount of new generation we invest in over the next five years. Last year we made our single largest investment to date – providing a £20 million loan to Ethical Power to fund part of its solar and battery storage pipeline, with 178 MW currently in development.

As well as building new clean energy capacity, we are continuing to connect more people to renewables, welcoming over 480 new investors via our crowdfund which launched in October 2023 and completed in January 2024. It is thanks to our investors old and new that we are able to help build an energy system fit for future generations.

“The Thrive investment ticked a lot of boxes from my point of view. It’s an established business which I think produces a very respectable income for shareholders. The diversified nature of the portfolio is attractive – including wind, solar and battery storage. I also like the fact that it promotes purpose, not just growth, and funds community energy so people can get projects off the ground in their local area. One can be sceptical about ESG investing and how real it is – most businesses cannot have the environment as their main cause. Thrive evidently does.”

Martin S., Thrive shareholder

Another key highlight from 2023 was awarding a record £37,000 in energy efficiency grants to community buildings across the UK through our Community Benefit Programme. The annual programme, run in collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE,) helps community hubs near our projects reduce their carbon footprints and manage energy costs. For the first time since starting the programme in 2016, we also provided ‘energy essentials’ training to applicants, delivered by CSE, on topics such as fuel poverty awareness.

“The grant from Thrive has enabled us to insulate the walls and roof effectively and to install fixed infrared panel heaters, which provide almost instant heat and are programmable, controlled over wifi from our website. Without insulation and the safe and efficient heaters we’d all have to wear bulky outdoor clothing, which can be unsafe when operating machinery and not pleasant to work in. We’d also have had much bigger energy bills.”

Tony Hutt, Treasurer, Debenham Shed

The fully audited Annual Report and Financial Statements can be downloaded here.

* Please remember that past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future returns.

[1] Impact Portfolio describing Thrive’s share of projects owned plus the projects Thrive is funding.

[2] Calculated using the most recent statistics from the DESNZ showing that UK average domestic household consumption is 3,239 kWh per annum (https://www.renewableuk.com/page/UKWEDExplained)

Average residents per household 2.4 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/families/bulletins/familiesandhouseholds/2020), Population of Preston is 99,198 (https://www.thegeographist.com/uk-cities-population-1000/).

[3] RenewableUK uses DESNZ’s “all non-renewable fuels” emissions statistic of 424 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electricity supplied in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (July 2023) Table 5.14 (“Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from electricity supplied”. Carbon reduction is calculated by multiplying the total amount of renewable electricity generated by Thrive’s impact portfolio per year by the number of tonnes of carbon which fossil fuels would have produced to generate the same amount of electricity.