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Investing in ethical solar energy generation
A case study of the Big Solar Co-op's first Bond Offer
In late June 2025, Big Solar Co-op launched its first-ever bond offer via the Ethex impact investing platform, inviting people across the UK to directly support the transition to highly sustainable solar energy. This innovative offer provides a new way for investors to make a clear environmental impact while backing a grassroots movement driven by ethics, community ownership, and climate action.
Backing sustainable community-owned solar
The Big Solar Co-op is a not-for-profit co-operative that exists to build solar installations where they’re needed most, like on the rooftops of large buildings and on disused land that’s unsuitable for farming, while applying the highest standards of sustainability in all their processes.
Using recycled solar panels and ethically sourced panels with supply chains paired with biodiversity-enhancing land management, the Big Solar Co-op is building one of the UK’s most sustainable solar parks. Its mission is to make clean, community-owned energy accessible, affordable, and ethical while empowering people as part of the process.
With over 1,100 members and 12 successful rooftop installations already in operation, this growing network of solar supporters has big plans for the future. Through their IF ISA eligible bond offer on Ethex, investors can directly support the completion of Whiteborough Solar Park—a pioneering new project that epitomises the Big Solar Co-op’s low-carbon vision.
From coal power to clean power
Investments in the bond offer are funding Whiteborough Solar Park, a groundbreaking solar project under construction on the site of a former opencast coal mine in Nottinghamshire—a powerful symbol of the UK’s clean energy transition.
Once completed, Whiteborough will:
- Generate around 3,000 MWh of clean solar electricity each year (enough to power hundreds of homes)
- Save an estimated 619 tonnes of CO₂ annually
- Use recycled and ethically sourced solar panels, including 45% repurposed from a decommissioned solar farm
- Encourage new wildlife habitats, hedgerows and wildflower-rich grassland, enhancing biodiversity on site
By turning a site of industrial pollution into a source of renewable energy, the Whiteborough development demonstrates the potential of solar to power homes, restore ecosystems and create a greener future.
“This bond offer from the Big Solar Co-op is more than a financial opportunity for investors. It’s a chance to be part of something bigger: a grassroots movement putting clean energy in the hands of communities, not corporations. And one that is committed to sustainability every step of the way.”
— Lisa Ashford, CEO of Ethex
Through the bond offer, Big Solar Co-op is raising funds to complete the build of Whiteborough Solar Park. With a target raise of £800,000, the bond offers potential returns of 5.5%, payable tax-free if held within the Ethex Innovative Finance ISA.
The bond offers everyday people around the UK the opportunity to invest in a truly low-carbon, ethical, and community-owned energy solution and to help scale a model that’s rewriting the rules of how solar power is developed in the UK.
“We got tired of waiting for someone else to unlock the huge potential of the UK’s rooftops and unused spaces for solar. So, we took action. Now, we’re inviting people across the country to join us—not just as investors, but as active changemakers. At the Big Solar Co-op, sustainability is embedded in everything we do. Thanks to our co-operative structure, we can make deeply sustainable choices.”
— Jon Hallé, Co-founder, Big Solar Co-op
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