RWE Launches Gwynt y Môr Fund

RWE Innogy has officially launched a fund of £19 million available from Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm for communities in coastal areas of Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire yesterday.

The fund is open for small applications from £500 to £10,000 and grants over £10,000.

It is able to fund both capital and revenue projects that focus on the three themes of the fund:

  • Building strong, cohesive and sustainable communities
  • Developing prosperous, enterprising communities with strong economic growth
  • Reducing poverty and inequality in communities

The launching event, held in Conwy, was attended by John Porter, Operations and Maintenance Manager of the Gwynt y Môr wind farm who spoke about the project itself, and by Neil Pringle, community fund manager, who elaborated the Gwynt y Môr fund and how it can help North Wales.

The fund has already made a donation of £570,000 to the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) in North Wales.

With this funding, RNLI will support a new rescue support vehicle to be based at St Asaph and pay for the training of all volunteer crews along the North Wales coast for the next five years.

Gwynt y Môr is the world’s second largest operating offshore wind farm, off the North Wales coast.  It is a £2bn partnership between RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München GmbH, and Siemens.

OffshoreWIND staff; Image: seaside_citizen/flickr