An acclaimed, market leading debt fund that finances community focussed renewable energy schemes
This fund is now closed for new investment
SASC Bridge Finance
SASC Bridge Finance (SBF), formerly Leapfrog Bridge Finance, was acquired by SASC in September 2020.
SBF offers flexible secured loans of between £1 million and £15 million. We support organisations working in disadvantaged communities that want to be engaged in the low carbon energy sector and renewables developers that wish to address their corporate social responsibilities.
SBF aims
To address head-on the climate emergency that we face as a nation by funding the growth of the country’s renewable energy generation & storage capacity.
To improve the economic resilience of some of the UK’s most deprived communities by allowing them to own cash generating assets such as Solar PV, Battery Storage and Wind Turbines.
SBF directly addresses 4 SDGs
Many communities that wish to engage with the low carbon energy system through locally owned and governed renewable energy schemes, find funding the cost of entry to the energy market prohibitive.
SBF addresses this issue by providing 100% of the investment required to build or acquire projects.
In 2018 the number of households in fuel poverty stood at 3.3 million. Renewable energy technologies are an affordable, clean technology.
SBF will provide loans to community focussed projects targeting areas in the 40% most deprived on the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
Construction or acquisition of projects is expensive with capital costs often running into many millions of pounds. This is a big hurdle for most communities.
Our experience and approach to funding community-led schemes makes the process achievable. SBF will continue to support new community-focussed business models and partnerships in the public and private sector.
The schemes financed by SBF will generate funding for projects that create social impact within local communities, tackling issues such as fuel poverty, economic redevelopment, preservation of species and education.
There is an urgent need for climate action.
By enabling involvement of some of the UK’s most deprived communities in the sector we aim to ensure that the just transition to a low carbon economy includes the most vulnerable sections of our community.
SBF portfolio
Impact
£52.1m*
Total investment made to date
6*
Organisations supported to date
*This includes facilities provided by the fund during the time it was managed by Leapfrog Finance Limited
To be eligible for investment an organisation must demonstrate the following:
- Based in the United Kingdom
- Be a community interest company, community benefit society or have objects primarily concerned with the provision of benefits to society
- Eligible project will generate measurable social impact
- Project Size between £0.5m and £15m
- Able to demonstrate strong management and governance structure
It’s our collective responsibility to prevent runaway climate change and protect species, so let’s be the change and make it happen. Projects like this, which also require no government subsidy whatsoever, demonstrate that the UK can meet its net zero obligations well before 2050 and enable us to move the needle in delivering radical carbon reductions within the next 10-years.
Toddington Harper, CEO and founder of GRIDSERVE
