UK community fund administrator GrantScape has, on behalf of DONG Energy, opened the first round of applications for the East Coast Community Fund available to coastal communities on the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and North Norfolk coasts.
The East Coast Community Fund has been set up to ensure that local people benefit from the operation of two of DONG’s offshore wind farms – the 580MW Race Bank and the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One, both currently under construction.
The fund will distribute around GBP 465,000 a year to help local initiatives for a period of 20 years. Grants from GBP 1,000 up to GBP 50,000 are available for projects which are located, and are for the benefit of communities within the funding area.
The closing date for the first round of applications will be in March 2017, and the final decisions on the first round will be announced in late July 2017.
Race Bank is being built off the North Norfolk coast and will be capable of meeting the electricity needs of over half million UK homes when it becomes fully operational in 2018.
Hornsea Project One is located 120km off the Yorkshire coast and covers approximately 407 square kilometers. DONG reached a final investment decision to build the wind farm in February 2016. It is due to be operational in 2019.
Image: DONG Energy