Community benefits
Find out how Bodinglee Wind Farm will bring investment, jobs, and a yearly benefit fund to the local area.
How Bodinglee benefits the local community
The Bodinglee project represents a huge opportunity to deliver transformational, positive local change. We anticipate that the community benefit package will be approximately £53 million over 40 years, with the potential to meaningfully improve the lives of local people.
Key community benefits from Bodinglee Wind Farm:
Our ambition is to deliver a community benefits package that goes beyond the traditional model of issuing grants from a central pot. Our goal is to identify the wider needs of the area, then tackle them together with a blend of targeted programmes, investment and grants.
£53.2 million
into a local community fund over the lifespan of the wind farm
1%
free community share offer, with the option to buy a further 9% of the wind farm shares
£160 million
investment in the local economy (South Lanarkshire)
1,020
job years (regionally)
65%
Wind farm lifecycle investment delivered regionally
Community Funds
Helping communities save on their energy bills
We have worked with experts at Natural Power to devise a series of route-maps to directly help the 6,500 households near the Bodinglee site with household bills while also reducing their carbon footprint.
By funding energy efficiency initiatives ranging from home insulation to new heat sources (like heat pumps and solar panels) we can help community members reduce their energy bills. From our initial assessment, we believe the combined energy savings could be between £2.5 -£4.4 million each year.
These measures would also stop tens of thousands of tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere every year, helping local people to tackle climate change as well as save money.
Community Funds
Bodinglee Wind Farm community fund
A community benefit fund of £5,000 per MW of installed wind capacity per year will be available for community investment purposes, totalling approximately £1.3 million per year.
To help manage the fund and support local residents in energy-related activities, we are proposing the creation of a community body. The purpose of this community body will be to respond to the key issues raised by the community during our consultation for Bodinglee.
A key priority will be to make the homes in the community nearby the project warmer and more energy efficient by installing measures based on each household’s needs. These measures will reduce household energy bills once installed as well as their carbon footprint.
Our current proposed name for the community body is the Clydesdale Community Energy Transition Co. (CCETco). The CCETco will bridge the gap between government funding by paying for improvements to homes on behalf of residents with the funds generated by the wind farm.
The purpose of the new community body will be to help local people have affordable, clean energy and a warmer home. It would provide a service to local residents to assess the energy efficiency of their home, organise installers and fund measures to help them achieve improvements.
This initiative has the potential to create new jobs, develop local skills and training opportunities and upgrade local amenities and facilities.
Our survey which took place in February 2023 asked members of the local community what was important to them. You can view the results below.
Community Funds
Community body run by the community
Establishing this community body requires a commitment from you, the local community, to make it a reality. We believe that when up and running, it could create transformational, lasting change for the local area.
The CCETco will be able to set its own agenda to agree on how the community benefit funds can be invested. It will also be able to react to other needs defined by the community, such as direct payment to bills if the circumstances warrant. It may also act as a panel to advise on grants.
OnPath will help set-up the organisation and enable it to hire its first development manager. Funds will be made available for this from the community benefit fund.
The governance structure of the community body will place the local community as decision makers, with support from professional positions funded by the community benefit. With advisory positions for South Lanarkshire Council, local councillors, OnPath Energy, local businesses and experts in the area such as the Energy Saving Trust and Local Energy Scotland.
Since the organisation will agree on priorities with a panel of local community councils, you will be able to have your say on how it is run.
As part of the package, we will gift a 1% share of the wind farm to the community body and offer a further 9% to be bought at market value. We believe that the ownership offer together with community-led governance will provide a long-term positive impact for the region.
If the community does not wish to take up the ownership offer, then an enhanced benefit payment offer (above the £5,000 per MW) will be made to help fund the organisation to ensure its success.
Supporting the economy
The CCETco will also help local businesses get the skills they need for the future by using local contractors, employing local people and developing their skills. A core goal will be to help local businesses become leaders in the field of heat and low-carbon buildings. We expect between 200-400 locally-based full-time job years could come from this investment within the region.
Community Funds
Working with local businesses
As part of our commitment to local businesses, wherever possible we invite local suppliers to tender for work on our projects. During the construction of nearby Kype Muir Wind Farm, around 80% of the contracts (excluding turbines) were sourced locally.
Economic benefits expected from Bodinglee Wind Farm & Battery:
- Total project investment of £837 million with around £458 million spent in the region (60km radius).
- Total expenditure associated with these contracts over the lifetime of the wind farm is expected to support:
- £96.3 million gross value added (GVA) and 207 job years in South Lanarkshire;
- £103.4 million GVA and 260 job years in the local area (30km radius);
- £311.9 million GVA and 1,020 job years in the regional area (60km radius);
- £346.6 million GVA and 1,277 job years in Scotland; and
- £461 million GVA and 2,468 job years in the UK.