Community Integrated Investment Model (CIIM)
The CIIM is a finance and governance model developed through, and initially for, Project Collette to scale up community ownership and let communities hold real ownership and control of large-scale energy projects while still attracting institutional capital.
Dual legal structure
- A Community Benefit Society (CBS) holds the community stake and veto rights over mission-critical decisions, so the project’s purpose stays locked in.
- A commercial delivery body (CIC/SPV) develops and runs the project. It can convert to a Company Limited by Shares so institutional investors can take equity, with the CBS keeping board representation.
Ownership that grows with de-risking
Equity stakes for the CBS and partner local authorities expand as the project moves through four phases: pre-development, development, construction and operation. Communities and councils come in where risk is lower and build their share over time, rather than needing large upfront capital.
Technology-agnostic
Designed to apply across offshore and onshore wind, solar, hydrogen, tidal and battery storage, not just Collette.
Why it matters
It answers the usual trade-off in community energy: projects at scale need institutional money, but that money normally takes control. The CIIM separates control (held by the community through the CBS) from capital (brought in through the commercial vehicle), so decisions and returns stay in local hands.
With thanks to Bruce Davis, Mark Francis, Saskya Huggins and Ciara Shannon for their work on this. For more information on the CIIM read Project Collette’s Finance Guide.
