Council welcomes SSE’s commitment to new onshore wind community investment fund
The Highland Council has welcomed an announcement by SSE today (Wednesday) that they intend setting up a new Scotland Sustainable Energy Fund that could be worth more than £90 million over 25 years.
In particular, the Council is delighted that Highland stands to gain significantly from the new fund as the principle is being accepted that local communities should benefit from renewable projects on their doorsteps and community benefit should increase from £2,500 per annum for each megawatt of generation capacity to £5,000.
More good news is that the fund will be available for organisations promoting skills development, community energy schemes and improving the built and natural environment.
SSE’s current policy for awarding community funds is based on the installed capacity of its wind farms under construction or in operation and is worth up to £2,500 per annum for each megawatt of generation capacity. The new Sustainable Energy Fund would double the benefit to £5,000.
SSE’s 76MW Strathy North Wind Farm, which was recently consented by Scottish Ministers, will be the first wind farm to benefit from the additional funding, providing a total lifetime fund value of £9.5 million.
Council Leader Michael Foxley said: “This is very welcome news indeed. We have consistently argued for a minimum of £5,000 per annum for each megawatt of generation capacity and the setting up of this new fund finally recognises this threshold.
“We are also pleased that SSE are willing to sit down with key stakeholders, such as the Council to discuss the fine detail of how the fund is distributed with the aim of maximising the benefit for local communities, enhancing the skills of local workers, through training, creating jobs and seeing real improvements to the fabric of our local communities.”
Councillor Isobel McCallum, Chairman of the Council’s Community Benefit Working Group, added: “The Council is committed to helping achieve the maximum benefit for local communities that house renewable energy projects. Therefore I am delighted that SSE want to do more to ensure more specific benefits from our renewable energy programme are delivered locally. I look forward to the details talks that lie ahead.”