Energy company Vattenfall said its the Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm Community Fund has directly, and through leverage, provided £20.1m of community investment in the South Wales Valleys.
The fund has supported more than 450 local projects and businesses in its first five years of operation. Its funding is ringfenced from revenues generated from its Pen y Cymoedd windfarm, which has 76 turbine that produce enough green energy to power 188,000, which become operational in 2017. The windfarm is located between Neath and Aberdare and represented and investment of £200m Swedish state-owned Vattenfall.
The fund, which covers the Afan, Rhondda, Cynon and Neath Valleys, has provided grants, business loans and direct investment, creating or safeguarding almost 200 local jobs within the community. In addition to the £11.2m in funding directly from Vattenfall, a further £8.8m leveraged in match funding.
The fund also flexed its funding capabilities during the Covid pandemic and local flooding incidents, providing a response to support critical organisations locally - safeguarding 67 local jobs.
Run by an independent body that ensures its vision and purpose remains relevant to the interests and needs of the community, funding awards ranging from £280 to £491,869 have been offered to local businesses and community groups to date.
Berry Jordan, business and community investment advisor at Vattenfall said: “Pen y Cymoedd is not only generating fossil free electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes, but it is also starting to show the lasting economic opportunity that onshore wind can bring to local communities.
“By supporting local businesses to launch and grow, community groups to build their resilience, and investing in local facilities, new jobs are being created, and the fund is helping to secure further funding – growing the impacts on the ground. We look forward to seeing what comes next."
Kate Breeze, executive director of Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm Community Fund, added: "The fund is bringing added and new benefits to the area to drive local development. These opportunities that we have been able to support represent a real demand for services, activities, and products that people living, working, and visiting the area want to see. By supporting the vision of the communities, and as the impact of the funding grows, we will continue to work with community to make sure that the fund is community-led, place based and adaptable to community opportunities, issues, and priorities.”
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