A BUSTLING community hub is blown away after receiving nearly £8,000 in much-needed funding from a nearby wind farm.
The Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill Hope Hub in South Lanarkshire has been able to provide major upgrades to its indoor and outdoor facilities thanks to a £7,894 grant from OnPath Energy, formerly known as Banks Renewables.
The funding was granted through the Kype Muir Community Panel (KMCP) and allowed the community group to enhance the well-used hub, adding benches and other seating to its café and garden spaces while renovating and soundproofing its multi-purpose theatre and meeting room.
The Kype Muir Community Panel has always had a close affinity with the vital community hub, supporting its sensory garden with a £12,500 grant in 2021.
Willie Moyes, funding organiser at the Hope Hub said: "The wind farm funding has helped us significantly enhance our offering to the local community.
"So many important local groups use our space, so the funding has been able to make it that bit more functional and comfortable for everyone benefiting it - whether they are attending dance classes, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and after-school clubs and youth groups.
"We are incredibly appreciative of the funding provided by OnPath Energy. Over the years, we have built a valuable relationship with their team who have been fantastic and given us financial support to improve opportunities and activities for local people."
The Hope Hub aims to provide sustainable services and activities for the rural communities in the Clydesdale district.
It offers a diverse array of activities and support services for the community, such as offering warm spaces for those who can't heat their homes, along with a whole host of sociable activities like art and dance classes.
The Kype Muir Community Panel (KMCP) was set up to provide financial assistance to community groups, voluntary organisations and communities local to the areas surrounding its Kype Muir Wind Farm.
Robin Winstanley, sustainability, and external affairs manager at OnPath Energy said: "The Hope Hub has become an integral part of the local community, offering vital services to support people from all walks of life.
"We have built a strong relationship over the years, and it has been a pleasure to see the great work being done first-hand. It's clear that community hubs like this are of vital importance in enhancing the community in different ways and we're very proud that renewable energy has been able to play a part in that."
South Lanarkshire Councillor, Ross Lambie, said: "When working with local communities the personal touch is key as it helps the needs of the community be understood.
"OnPath Energy despite their size and strength as a company has always maintained a down-to-earth and face-to-face approach which results in great projects like the Hope Hub going from strength to strength."
OnPath Energy focuses on maximising the benefits of renewable energy for local communities and the local economy close to their projects and has a track record for doing so.
When building Kype Muir Wind Farm in South Lanarkshire for example, development and construction contracts to the value of £38.9M were awarded to local businesses within 30km.
The Kype Muir and Kype Muir Extension wind farms will bring significant community benefits, with an annual contribution of over £770,000.
These wind farms, consisting of 41 turbines, will generate over 150MW of electricity each year, enough to supply electricity to more than 120,000 homes, equivalent to a city larger than Aberdeen.
OnPath Energy is the new name for Banks Renewables. OnPath Energy is currently building a new website as part of the re-brand process. Until the new website is ready all project information and news will remain at www.banksgroup.co.uk/renewables.
To find out more about the Kype Muir Wind Farm Community Fund visit: https://www.banksgroup.co.uk/kype-muir-wind-farm-community-fund/
For additional information about Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill Hope Hub, please visit: https://www.hope-hub.org/
Issued by Holyrood PR on behalf of OnPath Energy, for more information contact info@holyroodpr.co.uk or 0131 561 2244.
About OnPath Energy
- OnPath Energy is a leading UK onshore renewable energy developer, formerly known as Banks Renewables.
- Banks Renewables was acquired by Brookfield in a transaction that was announced in October 2023 and completed in December 2023.
- OnPath Energy will be led by the same team building on our trusted position in the UK's onshore renewable energy market with the ambition to become the leading land based renewable energy developer.
- OnPath Energy headquarters will remain in the North East of England with an office in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
- We are members of RenewableUK, Scottish Renewables and the Independent Renewable Energy Generators Group (IREGG).
- In order to achieve net zero the UK will need to deploy substantial amounts of low carbon infrastructure across the UK for several decades.
- OnPath Energy is one of the UK's leading land-based renewable energy developers with an enhanced portfolio of onshore wind, solar and energy storage projects across the country.
- We believe in placing people and planet at the heart of what we do, that's why the long-term commitments that have been made to the communities in which our existing renewable energy schemes are located remain fully in place.
- We are constantly looking for better ways to deliver renewables projects which tackle climate change, help to drive down energy bills for the consumer and help to improve the UK's energy security over the long term.
- We care about what we do and the way that we do it, including long term relationships with local communities. Last year over £1,000,000 of community funding was awarded to 100+ community groups and environmental projects.
- We believe in being a good neighbour, with a long and proud track record of playing a positive role in our local communities.
- We are committed to bringing local businesses into our supply chain to create local jobs and establishing local panels to guide investment.
- Our projects protect, encourage and enhance the local environment while tackling climate change.
- We work in partnership with landowners to provide additional value to existing business, enable agriculture and developments to proceed.
Key facts
- OnPath Energy is owned by global alternative asset manager Brookfield.
- We have secured planning permission for 14 windfarms and currently operate eleven onshore wind farms across Scotland and the north of England with a combined installed generation capacity of 282MW.
- Our eleven wind farms are: i) Armistead; ii) Hazlehead; iii) Heysham South; iv) Hook Moor; v) Kype Muir; vi) Lambs Hill; vii) Marr; viii) Middle Muir; ix) Moor House and x) Penny Hill xi) Kype Muir Extension.
- We expect our eleven onshore wind farms to generate around 840Gwh per year.
- We have also obtained planning permission for two solar arrays and are developing other renewable and flexible energy projects.
- We have planning permission for 283MW of renewable electricity generation, with a further 632MW in the planning system.
- We have displaced around 776,990 tonnes of CO2 from operational projects to date.
- The 887MW we have in various stages of the planning and build out process is enough to provide the equivalent electricity for around 602,000 gas heated homes or a city larger than Leeds or Glasgow.
About Brookfield
Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM, TSX: BAM) is a leading global alternative asset manager with over $900 billion of assets under management. Brookfield invests client capital for the long-term with a focus on real assets and essential service businesses that form the backbone of the global economy. Brookfield offers a range of alternative investment products to investors around the world including public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, insurance companies and private wealth investors.
Brookfield operates Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE: BEP, BEPC TSX: BEP.UN, BEPC), one of the world's largest publicly traded, pure-play renewable power platforms, with approximately 33,000 megawatts of installed renewable energy capacity and a development pipeline of approximately 155,00 megawatts of renewable power assets, 14 MMTPA of carbon capture and storage, 2 million tons of recycled material and 3 million metric million British thermal units of renewable natural gas production annually.
