Communities in Scotland's Highlands and Moray have received a power boost of more than half a million pounds in vital funding following the award of the latest round of the Beatrice Partnership Fund, supported by Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm, Scotland’s largest offshore wind farm.

Around £400,000 is being distributed to community groups in Highland with around £165,000 distributed to groups in Moray.

The Beatrice Partnership Fund was established in 2017 by offshore wind farm co-owners SSE Renewables, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Red Rock Power Limited to support projects which create opportunities for skills and employment; empower communities to be more resilient through long term social, environmental or economic improvements; or encourage meaningful regeneration to improve local infrastructure, landscape or heritage.

This year’s funding awards see support from Beatrice for transformative local projects in both regions as well as initiatives to help further develop community resilience in these regions during the current Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

This latest award brings the total funding granted to non-profit-making community groups in Moray and Caithness to over £2.3m since the Beatrice Partnership Fund was first established. This is the fourth, and penultimate round of the Partnership Fund which is managed by the Community Investment Team at SSE Renewables on behalf of the joint venture partnership.

Fraser Grieve, Chair of the Beatrice Partnership Fund panel, said: 
“This year more than most we’ve recognised the role that this fund can play in supporting communities and building resilience. Once more we’ve seen some outstanding projects that we believe will make a positive lasting difference and we recognise the challenge that many face in accessing the other funding they need.

“Each one of these projects is built on the passion and commitment of those wishing to make a positive difference for their area and this funding is an important link between the investment put into Beatrice and the communities closest to it. I look forward to seeing the progress made and the difference delivered as people benefit from this funding power boost.”

Marianne Townsley (pictured above), SSE Renewables Community Investment Manager, said: 
“As we continue to live with the Coronavirus outbreak, it is hugely important that communities have access to funds to help them move forward in their next stages of development. We are very pleased to be making a difference to communities in both the Highland and Moray areas and it is great to see the positive difference the funds will make.”

In this round, £402,180 was distributed to 12 groups in Highland, including organisations and charities from the east coast communities in Caithness and Sutherland and the community council areas of Edderton, Tain, Inver and Tarbat. These include Caithness Community Connections; Connecting Communities; Dunbeath and District Centre; Dunnet Foresty Trust; East Sutherland Rescue Centre; Golspie Community Council; High Life Highland; Home-Start Caithness; Science 03; Staxigoe Community Football Pitch Committee; Tain and District Development Trust; and Tain and District Youth Café YMCA.

Graham Nutt, Senior Youth and Community Worker at Tain Youth Café, said: 
“One of the most important factors of our work is building relationships and the three-year funding grant to support our youth work service will enable us to strengthen the relationships made with the children and families within the community. This has been particularly important following the lockdown period and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Helping families as we come out of lockdown and return to a new normal will be a key part of our work and without the support of the Beatrice Wind Farm Partnership Fund this would not be possible.”

Karina Ross, Programme Manager of Connecting Communities, said: 
“For the last few years we have been committed to reducing the impact of our work on the environment. The introduction of an electric van supported by Beatrice Partnership Fund will help us to even further reduce our carbon footprint. During the Coronavirus pandemic, demand for our freshly-prepared meals increased significantly, and we expanded the service to Dornoch and Embo. The introduction of this second van to our fleet will future-proof our efforts to continue operating in this area and allow us to introduce our meals to other local communities too.”

In Moray, £164,322 was distributed to six charitable and community groups operating in the region’s coastal communities and in the areas of Buckie, Keith, Lennox and Strathisla. These include Cullen, Deskford and Portknockie Heritage Group; Friends of Blairs Loch; Findhorn Foundation; Garmouth and Kingston Amenities Association; Lossie 2-3 Group; and Moray Baby Bank.

Ian Sutherland, Secretary of Moray Baby Bank, said: 
“This grant from the Beatrice Partnership Fund will allow Moray Baby Bank to buy a new electric van. The van will allow us to collect donated baby items from members of the public throughout Moray and also to distribute them to Moray families in need of our support. We are very grateful for the support from the panel and we are excited to take delivery of our van later in the year.”

Jim MacKay, Vice President of Cullen, Deskford and Portknockie Heritage Group, said: 
“Our group has accumulated a collection of memorabilia and artefacts over many years and we have a long-held ambition to open a Heritage Centre to move the organisation forward from focusing on events to having a permanent venue. The grant from the Beatrice Partnership fund will enable us to refurbish the Memorial Hall and create a space that will benefit the wider community, tourism industry and local economy.”

The 588MW, 84 turbine Beatrice offshore wind farm is located approximately 13km from the Caithness coast in the Outer Moray Firth and entered operation in June 2019. It was officially opened a month later by HRH The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay.

As well as being Scotland's largest offshore wind farm Beatrice is also the fourth largest in the world and is capable of providing enough wind-powered electricity for up to 450,000 homes.

As part of its commitment to local and regional communities a £3m Beatrice Partnership Fund was established to be awarded over a five-year period from 2017 to 2021, with funding split between £2m for communities in Highland and £1m for communities in Moray.

Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm is operated by SSE Renewables, on behalf of its joint venture partners Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Red Rock Power Limited, from its base at Wick Harbour on the north east coast of Scotland.

KeyFacts Energy: SSE Renewables UK country profile