Ørsted Announces Winners of Round 2 “Skills Fund” for Coastal Areas of Lancashire and Cumbria

Ørsted is delighted to announce that two groups will share the £50,000 of funding for Round Two of the Skills Fund that will deliver Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) related training or education courses.
Walney Extension offshore wind farm
Walney Extension offshore wind farm

The first award goes to Scientists for Global Responsibility, who will deliver workshops entitled “One Planet - One Life” across secondary schools in the funding area over a two-year period.

The interactive workshops will involve over 1,000 young people and aim to give a better understanding of the human contribution to climate change, and how a combination of technological and behavioural solutions are needed to address this impact.

Dr Jan Maskell, said: “At Scientists for Global Responsibility, we are extremely pleased to be awarded this grant from the Walney Extension Community Fund as it will enable us to develop our science education activities for secondary schools. With the need to keep global temperature change below 1.5 degrees C - as indicated by the scientific evidence - educating our young people about their carbon footprints and how they can reduce them is vital.”

The second award goes to 3D Web Technologies Ltd who will deliver twelve STEM skill-focused workshops for year eight pupils.

This project aims to give students an engaging, balanced and educationally valuable bigger picture insight into the complexities of offshore wind farm design. In small teams, pupils will be experiencing what it’s like to work on a wind farm development for the day. The teams will create their own ‘company’ with each member having a specific role such as Project Manager, Financial Manager, Technical Adviser or Public Relations (PR) Consultant. They will have to plan and design a wind farm layout considering real-life constraints and obstacles.

Humphrey Laidlow, Ørsted Stakeholder Advisor for Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm, said: “Following the success of our first round of funding, we are delighted to announce two new projects that will help drive further opportunities in STEM locally. Scientists for Global Responsibility and 3D Web Technologies have both put together fantastic programmes which will help to inspire many young people to aim for engineering careers in fast-growing industries like offshore wind”.

Ørsted (formerly DONG Energy) recently opened the Walney Extension Offshore Windfarm, off the Walney Island coast in Cumbria. Each year, approximately £600,000 will be made available for skills and community projects for the expected 25-year lifetime of the wind farm, which became the world’s largest offshore wind farm earlier this year.

The Fund is being administered by the independent grant-making charity GrantScape. For further information about the Fund, to see details of the projects awarded grants in Round One, and to find out how to apply, please visit their website www.grantscape.org.uk or call 01908 247634.

ENDS

Editors’ Notes:

Media contacts:

Liz Payne – GrantScape – 01282 543775 or 07963 987653 – liz.payne@grantscape.org.uk

Mike Day – UK Media Relations Manager Ørsted – 07767 008893 – MIDAY@orsted.com

About Ørsted:

The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs and operates offshore wind farms, bioenergy plants and innovative waste-to-energy solutions and provides smart energy products to its customers. Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs 5,600 people, including over 900 in the UK. Ørsted's shares are listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (Orsted). In 2017, the group's revenue was DKK 59.5 billion (GBP 7.1 billion). For more information on Ørsted, visit orsted.co.uk or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.

About GrantScape:

GrantScape is a grant-making charity committed to enhancing the environment and strengthening local communities through its grant programmes. GrantScape’s experience stretches back to 1997 and it has awarded grants totalling over £80 million to deserving projects over this time.

GrantScape manages a range of community and environmental grant programmes on behalf of corporate and local authority clients. These are tailored to their individual requirements, which is the charity’s speciality. In addition, GrantScape offers a professional project management and grant process review service to groups requiring support with these activities.

For further information, please see: www.grantscape.org.uk

About Walney Extension

The Walney Extension offshore wind farm is located next to the existing Walney Offshore Wind Farm, off the Walney Island coast in Cumbria. The extension will comprise of 87 turbines and have a total capacity of 659MW. For further information, please visit: walneyextension.co.uk

About Walney Extension Community Fund

The Fund supports community and environmental projects along the Cumbria and Lancashire coast, within a defined area. Approximately £600,000 is available each year (£100,000 of this is ring-fenced for a ‘Skills Fund’). The Fund is split equally between two annual funding rounds. There are two levels of grants available:

  • Small grants between £500 and £5,000
  • Main grants between £5,001 and £75,000

Applications to the Fund are made using an online application system via the GrantScape website www.grantscape.org.uk