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Ten groups awarded share of £50k Northern Powergrid funding

Ten local groups have been awarded a share of a £50k Northern Powergrid funding pot aimed at enabling new energy schemes to flourish in local communities.

The groups received news of their awards at two keynote community energy events in Newcastle and Wakefield hosted by Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for running the electricity network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

The ten Northern Powergrid Community Energy Seed Fund winners were joined by more than 100 other groups at the events hosted by Northern Powergrid in conjunction with Involve Yorkshire & Humber and the Voluntary Organisations’ Network North East for the second year running.

The events compliment the Northern Powergrid Community Energy Seed Fund, which was launched in 2014 and is run by the Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland.

The Seed Fund offers support for community energy projects in the inception stages, and seed funding to provide support such as expert advice, feasibility studies, and meeting spaces. It aims to help fledgling energy generation, reduction, management or purchasing projects get off the ground - as well as more creative renewable energy projects.

The Northern Powergrid Community Seed Fund winners are:

Yorkshire and Humber: Pennine Community Power, Humber & Wolds Rural Community Council and Yorkshire Energy Doctor based in Selby.

North East: Earth Doctors in Wylam, Workers Education Association North East Green Branch, North Tyneside Friends of the Earth, Northern Community Power (North Tyneside), Greening Wingrove in Newcastle’s East End, Muggleswick Parish Council and the International Community Organisation of Sunderland.

Anne-Claire Leydier, sustainability manager at Northern Powergrid, said: “We want to enable the communities we serve to explore community energy and engage them in positive discussion from day one of their projects about how they can successfully connect into the region’s power network which Northern Powergrid is responsible for managing and developing.

“The Seed Fund provides vital community energy funding. We congratulate the winners and look forward to following their projects as they prepare to get them off the ground in the months ahead.

“Our two recent community energy events were the ideal platform to celebrate their success; kick-start their ventures and inspire other groups to consider ways they can innovate in their own communities with projects to manage and reduce energy use and support work to reduce fuel poverty.”

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