Community benefits and investment

Community benefit funding

We design our wind farms to be positive assets to the local area, supporting the economy and helping meet community ambitions. We have a long‑standing history of delivering meaningful community benefits around our projects. We were among the first developers to introduce dedicated community benefit funding, well before it became standard practice. We believe it is the right thing to do.

For onshore wind, we provide £5,000 per installed megawatt of capacity (adjusted for inflation throughout the life of the project) to the communities surrounding our sites. This funding is designed to support local priorities and help communities deliver the projects and initiatives that matter most to them. 

Based on Hope Moor’s anticipated generating capacity of over 150MW, this would create a community benefit fund of more than £750,000 each year - totalling over £22 million across the project’s anticipated 30‑year lifespan. This figure is subject to change, as it is linked to the final installed capacity. How the fund is used is entirely up to the community.

Communities around different projects choose to focus on different needs. Some have introduced energy discount schemes to support residents with their bills and address fuel poverty; others have funded swimming lessons for local children or invested in environmental projects that improve local habitats.

We will work with the communities surrounding Hope Moor to understand how they would like the fund to be used and what their priorities are. We will also support them in administering and managing the fund to ensure it works effectively for local people.