The benefits to our communities
Supporting communities
To support communities near our wind farms, each of our sites has a dedicated community fund to spend on improvements in the local area during its development and over the lifetime of its operation.
Putting any kind of value on the total sum of the human, social, environmental, cultural or built capital these community benefit funds can unlock is impossible; but it’s clear that these funds are playing a critical role in building some very strong and capable communities in Scotland.
What are community funds?
A Community Benefit Fund is an annual payment we give to the community surrounding a wind farm to invest in local initiatives or people. A wind farm can sometimes impact on those living nearby, so the fund provides a way of giving something back to support the local community.
These might be small-scale, one-off investments (e.g. a school gardening project) or larger renovation projects (e.g. repairing a war memorial).
The funds allocated are proportionate to the size of a wind farm and how much electricity the wind farm produces.
Community funds are managed by an external body – such as Foundation Scotland, which looks after several of our community funds in Scotland – but delivered in partnership with local communities. Local people are able to advise on the fund strategy and spend, so they can prioritise issues that are important to the local area.
GOOD FOR JOBS
HELP FOR SCHOOLS
BOOST THE LOCAL ECONOMY
ENHANCED INFRASTRUCTURE
Helping communities maximise the benefits of our Funds
Our community funds have supported a huge variety of local projects over the years, from education and skills, re-training, vulnerable demographics, to summer programmes for children and ensuring they have a hot meal to community cafes in remote areas.
Barmoor
£60,000 invested in the community fund each year. Improvements include new lighting for Branxton Village Hall and a defibrillator for Bowsden.
Glassmoor
£10,000 invested in the community fund each year. Improvements include energy-efficient Christmas lights for the town and a children’s wildlife education garden.
Burnfoot Hill
£89,000 annual investment in the community – including £5,000 a year dedicated to the Ochils Mountain Rescue team until 2039. £10,000 has also been donated to buy and fit out a new Land Rover.
Bicker Fen
£18,000 invested in the community fund each year. Improvements made to the local area include an information lectern about the village’s history, a bird hide and wildlife project, and a replacement fence for the village hall.
Broomhill
£4,000 invested in the community fund each year. New strips and tracksuits provided for Willington Youth Blues Under-11s football team.
Blusheens, Coolroe and Curraghmartin
Community Benefit Funds have been established for each of the three solar farms, and will provide funding for the next 15 years, generating c.€750,000 over the lifetime of the funds.
Blusheens – Yola Farm & Hedge School will use the money to further develop a local family centre by redoing the toilet roof, purchasing material to create a pergola area and adding an outdoor pizza oven to create a dining area.
Coolroe – New installations and materials for kids in Leonard’s, Gusserane and Ballycullane National Schools.
Curraghmartin – Providing the Carrigeen National School youth club essential primary maths curriculum manipulatives and resources (playing card, play money, maths games etc) and equipment such as a pool table, table tennis table and tabletop football.
Fallago Rig
£240,000 invested in the community fund each year, for initiatives such as the creation of a bronze memorial to remember a fishing disaster off the Eyemouth coast in 1881. 44 local projects have been delivered so far to support village halls, museums, schools, archaeology, tree planting, footpaths, and more.
A £75,000 grant from the Fallago Environment Fund is helping to secure the future of the only ice rink in the Scottish Borders. The Border Ice Rink in Kelso was in urgent need of upgrade in order to cut its energy costs and install ice-making systems that conformed to the latest government regulations.
Beck Burn
£155,250 invested in the community fund each year. Investments include a project to clean up the local riverbanks, new facilities for the village halls, and a three-year barnacle geese tagging programme with the local Wildlife and Wetland Trust. This project will provide important insight into goose ecology, migratory paths, habitat use and how the birds have responded to the operation of the wind farm.
Teeside
£80,000 invested in the community fund each year. Projects supported include a carbon neutral heating system for an outdoor training centre, a ‘Festival of Thrift’ and a new watchtower for Coastwatch Redcar.