Empowering communities to benefit from renewable energy

Public exhibitions, information events, questionnaires, newsletters and community liaison groups are all used to gather feedback and this is then used to tailor the project design, and also forms an integral part of our planning applications.

Understanding the benefits

Over their full operating lives the projects now in operation and under development will deliver over £300m of community funding and this is index linked to keep pace with inflation. Decisions on how these funds are best spent are left to local communities, but to date these have been used for anything from supporting village bus services, funding community centres, outdoor play areas and installing EV charging points We also prioritise local contractors, generating investment and supporting jobs in local communities.

Shared ownership schemes that allow local people to invest in many of the wind farm projects. In developed have been set up in collaboration with Energy4All, a not for profit social enterprise. Over 1,000 people have invested some £3m in these to date. Community ownership opportunities will also be offered on our newwind farms and agreements have been signed up with a range of community organisations to help realise that.