A VITAL community rugby club has been left beaming after receiving nearly £15,000 worth of funding from an innovative renewable fund from a nearby wind farm.
Strathaven Rugby Club, with nearly 600 members, secured vital funding to upgrade its floodlights to energy-saving LEDs, significantly cutting costs amid rising energy prices. In previous years, the club has also received funding to upgrade training equipment available to coaches and players.
Founded in 1984, the club has praised OnPath Energy, formally Banks Renewables, who were able to provide funds through Kype Muir Wind Farm's Community benefits fund. Funding from this project is directed by the Kype Muir Community Panel (KMCP), a collective of local community councils who provide their expertise in delivering real community benefits from this project.
Colin Dalgarno who has been part of the club for 16 years and now serves as its vice chairman said: "Those old lights caused huge problems, most of them were broken and even if we did get them all working, it would have cost us an absolute fortune to run because it was old steel bulbs.
"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."
The Kype Muir Community Panel (KMCP), channels support from the Kype Muir Community Fund to various initiatives within 10km of the wind farm.
Focused on enhancing community buildings, arts, and grassroots projects, the fund prioritises efforts that bring social, economic, or environmental benefits to South Lanarkshire communities, especially in designated areas like Lesmahagow, Sandford and Upper Avondale, and others, ensuring targeted and meaningful impact.
Robin Winstanley, director of sustainability and community at OnPath Energy said: "We created the Kype Muir Community Fund and partnered with the KMCP as we wanted to help vital local organisations to maximise their services and operate at the best level possible.
"It's clear to see that Strathaven Rugby Club is a vital organisation and its 600 members only underscores its importance to the community.
"I'm delighted to see that the new lights have made such a valuable contribution to the club, allowing them to save money and further improve their training offerings."
OnPath Energy is the new name for Banks Renewables. OnPath Energy is currently building a new website as part of the re-brand process. Until the new website is ready all project information and news will remain at www.banksgroup.co.uk/renewables.
Situated about 5km south of Strathaven, Kype Muir Wind Farm stands as a leading project for OnPath Energy, featuring 26 turbines and achieving full operational status in 2018.
OnPath Energy is nearing the final stages of completing the Kype Muir Extension, an adjacent site with 15 turbines, distinguished as hosting the tallest and most efficient onshore wind turbines in the UK.
Together, Kype Muir and its Extension are poised to provide over £770,000 annually in community benefits to the local areas.
For more information on the Kype Muir Community Fund, visit: https://www.banksgroup.co.uk/kype-muir-wind-farm-community-fund/
For more information on OnPath Energy, visit: https://www.banksgroup.co.uk/renewables/
For additional information about Strathaven Rugby Club, please visit: https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/strathavenrugbyfootballclub
Issued by Holyrood PR on behalf of OnPath Energy, for more information contact info@holyroodpr.co.uk or 0131 561 2244.
About OnPath Energy
- OnPath Energy is a leading UK onshore renewable energy developer, formerly known as Banks Renewables.
- Banks Renewables was acquired by Brookfield in a transaction that was announced in October 2023 and completed in December 2023.
- OnPath Energy will be led by the same team building on our trusted position in the UK's onshore renewable energy market with the ambition to become the leading land based renewable energy developer.
- OnPath Energy headquarters will remain in the North East of England with an office in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.
- We are members of RenewableUK, Scottish Renewables and the Independent Renewable Energy Generators Group (IREGG).
- In order to achieve net zero the UK will need to deploy substantial amounts of low carbon infrastructure across the UK for several decades.
- OnPath Energy is one of the UK's leading land-based renewable energy developers with an enhanced portfolio of onshore wind, solar and energy storage projects across the country.
- We believe in placing people and planet at the heart of what we do, that's why the long-term commitments that have been made to the communities in which our existing renewable energy schemes are located remain fully in place.
- We are constantly looking for better ways to deliver renewables projects which tackle climate change, help to drive down energy bills for the consumer and help to improve the UK's energy security over the long term.
- We care about what we do and the way that we do it, including long term relationships with local communities. Last year over £1,000,000 of community funding was awarded to 100+ community groups and environmental projects.
- We believe in being a good neighbour, with a long and proud track record of playing a positive role in our local communities.
- We are committed to bringing local businesses into our supply chain to create local jobs and establishing local panels to guide investment.
- Our projects protect, encourage and enhance the local environment while tackling climate change.
- We work in partnership with landowners to provide additional value to existing business, enable agriculture and developments to proceed.
Key facts
- OnPath Energy is owned by global alternative asset manager Brookfield.
- We have secured planning permission for 14 windfarms and currently operate eleven onshore wind farms across Scotland and the north of England with a combined installed generation capacity of 282MW.
- Our eleven wind farms are: i) Armistead; ii) Hazlehead; iii) Heysham South; iv) Hook Moor; v) Kype Muir; vi) Lambs Hill; vii) Marr; viii) Middle Muir; ix) Moor House and x) Penny Hill xi) Kype Muir Extension.
- We expect our eleven onshore wind farms to generate around 840Gwh per year.
- We have also obtained planning permission for two solar arrays and are developing other renewable and flexible energy projects.
- We have planning permission for 307MW of renewable electricity generation, with a further 580MW in the planning system.
- We have displaced around 776,990 tonnes of CO2 from operational projects to date.
- The 887MW we have in various stages of the planning and build out process is enough to provide the equivalent electricity for around 602,000 gas heated homes or a city larger than Leeds or Glasgow.
About Brookfield
Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM, TSX: BAM) is a leading global alternative asset manager with over $850 billion of assets under management. Brookfield invests client capital for the long-term with a focus on real assets and essential service businesses that form the backbone of the global economy. Brookfield offers a range of alternative investment products to investors around the world including public and private pension plans, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, insurance companies and private wealth investors.
Brookfield operates Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE: BEP, BEPC TSX: BEP.UN, BEPC), one of the world's largest publicly traded, pure-play renewable power platforms, with approximately 32,800 megawatts of installed renewable energy capacity and a development pipeline of approximately 155,00 megawatts of renewable power assets, 14 MMTPA of carbon capture and storage, 2 million tons of recycled material and 4 million metric million British thermal units of renewable natural gas production annually.
