Member Article

E.ON announces £2 million community fund for Humber Gateway Offshore wind farm

E.ON has announced it is to launch a £2 million fund for its Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm, to benefit local communities in the East Riding of Yorkshire and Grimsby.

E.ON establishes community benefit funds and works closely with local councils to discuss possible projects to support through its funding.

E.ON has now identified four key areas that will benefit from the Humber Gateway Community Fund which include improving rural transport in South Holderness; supporting the development of a new apprenticeship programme in North East Lincolnshire; funding for a new visitor centre for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust; and a community support fund which local groups, voluntary organisations and registered charities can apply for.

The launch of the Community Benefit Fund coincides with a major milestone reached in the Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm project.

Last week, the wind farm generated electricity for the first time and is on schedule to be fully operational by mid-summer, when it will produce enough renewable energy to power up to 170,000 homes.

Matthew Swanwick, project manager for the Humber Gateway Offshore Wind Farm, said: “All of the 73 foundations are now in place and we’ve installed 58 of the 85 metre turbines.

“The cable installations have also been completed which will transport the energy generated from each of the 3MW turbines, to the local grid connection in Salt End.

“It takes an enormous amount of work to erect these large structures and we’ve had to battle a few spells of bad weather, so we’re really happy with our progress to date.

“The turbine installation programme will continue over the next few months, marking the last construction phase of the project.”

The energy company invested £4 million in transforming a neglected site at Grimsby Fish Docks into the wind farm’s Operations and Maintenance base, which was officially opened by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, in 2014.

The Humber Gateway Wind Farm is located 8km off the Holderness coast, East Riding of Yorkshire, and will have an installed capacity of up to 219MW.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .