Benefits for the community

Discover the social, economic, and environmental benefits of Kype Muir Wind Farm.

Community benefits

Creating community value together

We establish community funds for every OnPath Energy project to ensure that the benefits are channeled back into the local community. Kype Muir Wind Farm, together with the Kype Muir Extension, provide the local community with a range of benefits including:

– £21.1 million into a local community fund over the lifespan of the wind farm 

– £159 million investment in the local economy 

– 800 jobs directly or indirectly supported  

– £1.3 million skills and training fund for the first five years, supporting almost 700 people locally

Kype Muir Community Panel (KMCP)

Increased benefits when combined with Kype Muir Extension

The Kype Muir Community Fund provides around £442,000 annually to benefit community groups within 10 kilometres of the Kype Muir Wind Farm and Extension. The fund supports a wide range of community needs, from community buildings to local art installations to helping to drive local grassroots projects. The fund also includes an initiative to help provide jobs and apprenticeships in the local area.

To ensure the communities and their relative needs are fully represented when allocating grants, the Kype Muir Community Partnership (KMCP) manages the fund. 

As a result of the Kype Muir Extension, we can increase the benefits for the local communities. The new offer for the combined Kype Muir and Kype Muir Extension developments is supported by the following financial commitments:

  •  Increase in the communities share of gross revenues from 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent
  •  Guaranteed minimum of £5,000 per MW per annum

The increase to 2.5% of the revenue of the combined Kype Muir and Kype Muir Extension developments is expected to deliver £32 million of funds to local communities over the lifecycle of the projects. In order to deliver this overall package the Kype Muir Extension partnering proposal will be as follows:

  • Gross Revenue share of 4% delivering £20,000,000, taking the combined revenue share of the Kype projects to £32,000,000.
  • Underwritten by a guaranteed minimum of £5,000 per MW per annum which equates to £7,600,000 over the project’s lifecycle.

“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 of Strathaven Rugby Club

“Continuing to grow and forge stronger partnerships have meant taking on more responsibility with community funding throughout the local area, and this has had a real impact with the level of project we’re able to take forward. The continued success of the KMCP speaks volumes to what is possible when local communities come together to make their own decisions, independently.”

George Smith Chair, Kype Muir Community Panel

“The £41,000 grant from OnPath Energy has helped us extend our service’s timetables in direct response to local demand. Before the bus, young people studying in Glasgow couldn’t get public transport to classes and some elderly people were really struggling with loneliness and a lack of independence. Like everything we do at Climate Action Strathaven, a massive element of this project is to cut emissions, promoting active travel in the area.”

Alison Harley Programme Manager for Climate Action Strathaven
Community

“We are incredibly appreciative of the funding provided by OnPath Energy. Over the years, we have built a valuable relationship with their team which has been fantastic and given us financial support to improve opportunities and activities for local people.”

Willie Moyes Funding organiser at the Hope Hub

“Our Highland games are a highlight of the summer calendar, not only for the community here in Lesmahagow, but for many of the surrounding villages. Support like this is vital to keep them running smoothly now, as well as building for the future to ensure they can be enjoyed for years to come.”

Mark Waugh Lesmahagow Community Council

“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 Cllr for Avondale & Stonehouse and Provost for SLC
Apply for a grant

Community benefit fund

When applying to our Kype Muir fund, you should always talk to your local community council who will be able to support you through the process and offer their guidance on shaping your project.

The Kype Muir Community Partnership covers five different areas, and you can find contact details for each of them in the guidelines below.

Please read the fund guidelines before completing an expression of interest (EOI) form and submitting it to the email address below.

Tel: 0191 378 6342
Email: apply@onpathcommunityfund.co.uk

For more information, you can also visit the Point North website.

Supporting local businesses

Seeing the bigger picture

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 Kype Muir Wind Farm, over 80% of the contracts were sourced locally. 

If you’d like your company to get involved with any of our current renewables developments,, we’d like to hear from you.

Nature and the environment

Think people and planet

Find out how Kype Muir Wind Farm and the Extension benefit local nature, wildlife and biodiversity. 

Improving biodiversity

Caring for the environment

Our project team starts thinking about how a project interacts with its environment at the very outset. We undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment to guide the design process and conduct detailed wildlife and bird studies of the site (among other studies) and commission external experts to analyse the data. This helps us understand the local wildlife and how we can build benefits into our designs that support and enhance local nature and biodiversity. 

At Kype Muir, through a targeted process of rewetting, we have restored 28.16 hectares of peatland at. We have also developed 570 hectares of habitat around the site, with a key aim of promoting the numbers of critically endangered black grouse – the fastest declining bird in the UK according to the RSPB.  

The pre-existing coniferous forestry at the site had low levels of biodiversity. Our habitat management plan aimed to significantly enhance this, creating a balance between replacement woodland planting; protections and enhancement of priority species; and the creation and connectivity of priority habitats.

Helping communities connect with nature

Responding to a strong community request to make the local environment and nature more accessible, we’re creating up to 26 km of new forest tracks throughout the site together with new recreational opportunities.