UK community fund administrator GrantScape has, on behalf of DONG Energy, issued a preliminary map showing which coastal communities in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk Coast stand to benefit from the GBP 9.3 million East Coast Community Fund.
The East Coast Community Fund is being set up to ensure that local people benefit from the operation of two of DONG’s offshore wind farms – the 580MW Race Bank, the 1.2GW Hornsea Project One and the 1.8GW Hornsea Project Two, with the first two projects currently under construction. The Fund will distribute around GBP 465,000 a year to help local initiatives for each of the next 20 years.
The current benefit area map shows that the coastal communities from Wells-next-the-Sea to the south, and Flamborough Head to the north, are eligible to apply for funds.
GrantScape pointed out that the current map is not yet final, and may be subject to further change after all the consultation stages, including the public events, are completed.
There will be a total of eight public events held between 12 October and 3 November. The exact times and venues for the public events can be found here.
The East Coast Community Fund will be launched to applications in late December 2016, or early January 2017.
The closing date for the first round of applications will be in March 2017.
Final decisions on the first round will be announced in late July 2017.
The Race Bank offshore wind farm is being built off the North Norfolk coast and will be capable of meeting the electricity needs of over half million UK homes when it becomes fully operational in 2018.
Construction of the onshore substations and installation of around 12 kilometres of onshore cable, from Walpole to a point north of Sutton Bridge, has been ongoing since last year, and work will soon begin offshore. The installation of two export cables in the area of the sea defence and the salt marsh is due to start in early May.
Hornsea Project One is located 120 km off the Yorkshire coast and covers approximately 407 square kilometers. DONG reached a final investment decision to build the wind farm in February 2016. It is due to be fully operational in 2020.
DONG received development consent from UK’s Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark for the Hornsea Project Two project in August 2016.
Located approximately 89 km off the Yorkshire coast, the wind farm will comprise up to 300 wind turbines and will connect to the grid at North Killingholme in North Lincolnshire.