Ørsted has allocated grants from the sixth round of the Walney Extension Community Fund, set up to support community and environmental projects near the 659MW offshore wind farm in Cumbria, UK.
The grants have been awarded to sixteen groups who will each receive a share of the just over GBP 253,000 windfall and will join 75 other community groups that have so far benefitted from the fund.
“Once again, we have been overwhelmed by the incredible array of deserving projects and organisations,” said Imran Nawaz , Ørsted Stakeholder Adviser.
“It’s always a pleasure to see the enthusiasm and passion for the local community which comes across in all the applications we receive, and we are delighted to support such worthwhile causes.”
The seventh round of the fund is open for applications until 10 July, after which the criteria is changing and the maximum grant groups can apply from will be GBP 50,000 instead of GBP 75,000.
More than GBP 1,5 million was committed to projects located near the Walney Extension project since the fund was launched in 2016. Approximately GBP 600,000 will be made available each year for community projects for the expected 25 year lifetime of the wind farm.
Walney Extension comprises 40 MHI Vestas 8MW turbines and 47 Siemens Gamesa 7MW turbines which were officially inaugurated at the beginning of September last year.