Community Funds and Investment

At OnPath Energy, we believe local residents should benefit from our projects. We establish community funds, managed by locals, to channel income from our projects back into the local community. We also invest in local communities through training of local people and creating jobs through our promise to hire locally wherever possible.

Our renewable energy solutions

Community funding from OnPath renewables projects

We want every local resident to benefit from our projects. In 2024, over £1.15 million of community funding from our projects was awarded to more than 100 community groups and environmental projects in Northern England and Scotland.

Our community funds are administered through local partnership schemes, ensuring that the money is used for projects tailored to local issues, identified by local people. By investing in projects with community-driven action at the core, we can help create long-lasting change where it’s needed most.

Our community investment promise:

We work with local stakeholders including community councils, parish councils and local residents to develop a tailored approach for every project.
We create local community advisory panels to identify and advise on local causes to support with the community funds.
We support and invest in eligible community groups and voluntary organisations to provide new and improved community amenities and environmental enhancements.

£6 million+

channeled to local communities to date through our wind farm community funds

£1.1 million/year

currently set aside for community benefits by our operational projects

12 projects

in operation, with active community benefit funds

Creating a better way together

Building long term partnerships

We develop long term partnerships with our business partners like Point North to help us maximise the difference we can make in the communities which host our projects.

Point North Community Foundation is a charity and grant making organisation based in County Durham who our team has worked with for nearly two decades.

In 2024 Point North administered funds totalling over £544,000 on our behalf generated by nine of our twelve onshore wind farms; supporting community groups, voluntary organisations and environmental projects in the communities in which we operate.

Listen to Point North’s Chief Executive Michelle Cooper talk about how we’ve worked together over the years >>

Apply for community funding on Point North’s website here.

Kype Muir and Middle Muir Community Benefits

OnPath Kype Muir and Middle Muir Wind Farms have been operational since 2019. Together they’ve delivered significant economic benefits for communities nearby.

Kype Muir Wind Farm Community Benefits

Funding from the Kype Muir Wind Farm is directed into three different programmes to benefit local communities:

Improving access to further education, employment, and training for local people.

More than £1 million has been invested for these purposes since the wind farm became operational. The funding is administered by South Lanarkshire Council.

Grants for long-term local projects.

Kype Muir contributes to South Lanarkshire Council’s Renewable Energy Fund (REF) – a broader fund which administers revenues from all wind farms in the region, not just those owned by OnPath. The funding supports projects that either acquire, develop, improve and/or maintain a capital asset such as land, buildings or roads, or one-off activities. Kype Muir contributed £244,596 to the REF in 2024.

The Kype Muir Community Partnership (KMCP)

The Kype Muir Community Panel

Addresses local issues that are sometimes missed by traditional funding channels. The KMCP received over £400,000 from Kype Muir in 2024.

Kype Muir Community Panel (KMCP)

The KMCP supports key local issues like health and wellbeing, community development, disability access and environmental improvements.

The KMCP is led by community action plans and grass roots community ideas, as well as reacting to unplanned community needs, for example those that arose during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since it was established, the KMCP has awarded over £500,000 in community grants. Take a look at the latest KMCP Legacy report to learn more or browse the related news below.

The new LED lights are brilliant; they’ve reduced our running costs significantly. As they cost less than a quarter to run compared to the old ones. This means we are now able to dedicate money to training equipment and other costs around the club. Our experience with OnPath has been perfect, it really couldn’t have been better. The process was straightforward, and it didn’t take long at all to get the ball rolling.
Colin Dalgarno Vice Chairman, Strathaven Rugby Club

It wouldn’t have been possible to purchase the jackets outright without the support of OnPath Energy. Their team was great to deal with and the club has benefitted from the KMCP funding.
Christine Hall Assistant Secretary at Avondale Curling Club

“This integral community hub is a wonderful project that is vital to the community. Thanks to this work, it will improve the everyday lives of local people both now and well into the future.”
Margaret Cooper councilor & provost, South Lanarkshire Council

“The impact the bus service has had on our community cannot be understated, it has been genuinely transformative. There has been a need for this service for a very long time in South Lanarkshire and we are really pleased we were not only able to set up a bus service but now be in the position to expand.”
Alison Harley Program Manager, Climate Action Strathaven

‘East Ayrshire has seen multiple wind farm developments proposed. Feedback from community councils within the 9CC Group highlights the specific positive and proactive level and quality of genuine community engagement from the OnPath team, that goes way beyond the minimum requirements set down by the planning legislation and current good practice standards. This builds TRUST and CONFIDENCE between the communities and the developer.’
Stephen McCarron Chief Operating Officer, The 9CC Group (Community Group)

Creating local jobs and training

We’ve created hundreds of local jobs through our investment in local businesses that help to build and maintain our renewables projects and we’ve trained local people to work on our projects. Find out more about our promise to local businesses below.

Our promise to local businesses