REG strives to be a good neighbour to the communities surrounding our projects. We always aim to work closely with local stakeholders to ensure that communities hosting our renewable energy schemes share in the financial benefits.
Whenever we build a new wind project we establish a Community Fund to support local good causes. These funds are currently based on payments of £5,000 per MW of installed capacity, so if we build a 10MW wind farm, we make £50,000 available every year for local projects and initiatives.
Across our operating fleet of wind farms in 2012-13, we committed more than £300,000 to support local communities in Community Fund payments.
This has, among a wide range of projects, backed the return to use of a previously dilapidated village hall in East Yorkshire, the establishment of drugs and alcohol awareness sessions in South Yorkshire and sports facilities in County Durham. Additional funds are being established on more recently consented sites, always involving local people in the decision-making process.
In February 2014 for the first time we offered the opportunity for the public to invest directly in an individual project, our single turbine site at High Down in Cornwall. This was achieved through our partnership with Abundance Generation and will be replicated on future projects.
We also set up dedicated microsites when projects enter the construction phase. This enables us to ensure that residents understand when construction will start and what it involves, as well as find out more about the Community Fund on offer.
We actively encourage local people, school groups and anyone else with an interest to visit our operational wind farms. There is no better way of dispelling the myths that persist about onshore wind and it’s always a pleasure to share the enthusiasm children display on encountering our turbines. Frequently, the people living closest to our sites become among the strongest of advocates for the technology as well.
Our Used Cooking Oil collection business Living Fuels has also delivered significant benefits to local areas.
Charity campaigns in Liverpool, Suffolk and Wiltshire have succeeded in boosting the profile of the service in local areas as well as raise much-needed funds for worthwhile causes. The first saw a donation made to Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, based on the amount of oil collected from tanks across Merseyside. Following a sustained media campaign, the charity drive not only provided a significant sum to the hospital’s appeal, but also resulted in a threefold increase in the amount of oil collected.
A follow-up effort in Wiltshire, working closely with the local authority and its contractor led to four times more oil being deposited in Living Fuels tanks in the county than in the previous quarter and more importantly, a cheque for £1,300 being despatched to Wiltshire Air Ambulance Service.