Go Mental NI was awarded £2,000 for counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy sessions for frontline workers.
SSE Renewables is giving community groups in Tyrone the chance to power local change as they open the 2021 Bessy Bell Community Fund to applications for funding to support community-based projects in the area surrounding its Bessy Bell Wind Farm near Omagh.
Since 2009 the annual Bessy Bell Community Fund has awarded more than £260,000 to non-profit groups in the area around the wind farm. Applications to the 2021 Community Fund are open from now and until 28 June for community-based projects within a 12-mile radius of the Co. Tyrone wind farm, with preference given to projects within three miles of the wind farm.
SSE Renewables is the leading developer and operator of renewable energy in Northern Ireland and is the power behind leading greener energy provider and sister company SSE Airtricity. Over the last two decades SSE Renewables has invested over £500m in the Northern Ireland economy through renewable energy developments. The company owns 121.5MW of operational onshore wind farms in locations across NI. These include the region’s largest wind farm, the 73MW Slieve Kirk Wind Park in County Londonderry which overlooks the City of Derry, as well as the 14MW Bessy Bell Wind Farm.
Through its annual Community Fund programme, SSE Renewables has awarded £3m so far to over 800 community projects in the communities closest to its wind farms. This funding has helped support local groups, sports organisations and schools among others to develop their facilities with energy efficiency and sustainability upgrades, as well as social and environmental projects that enable community development.
This year marks a change in the name of the funding programme. Previously promoted under the SSE Airtricity brand, the programme will now be known as the SSE Renewables Community Fund. The change is designed to better link annual funding award payments from SSE’s wind farms in Northern Ireland to SSE Renewables, which owns and operates each of the company’s wind farm sites.
Speaking at the launch of the Fund, Michelle Donnelly, SSE Renewables Community Investment Manager, said: “We know from our work in the areas in which we operate that local community groups are at the heart of all the good work being done to support people and improve their lives. They are also at the forefront of bringing innovation to their community to make them more sustainable. That is why the SSE Renewables Community Fund has been so successful and popular.
“We are delighted to have invested more than £260,000 in the communities around Bessy Bell, and we look forward to welcoming new applications this year and building new partnerships with the 2021 SSE Renewables Community Fund.”
One non-profit organisation which has benefitted from SSE Renewables funding from Bessy Bell Wind Farm is Go Mental NI, which received £2,000 in 2020 for a project which provided counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy sessions to key frontline workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking on the benefits the SSE Renewables Community Fund brought to Go Mental NI, founder Brian Campbell said: “The deterioration of people’s mental health is the pandemic following the Covid-19 pandemic. Being able to offer support sessions to people during the pandemic has hopefully maintained a balance in such unprecedented times.”
The closing date for applications to the SSE Renewables Community Fund for Bessy Bell Wind Farm is 5pm on 28 June 2021. For more information on how to apply, visit our Bessy Bell Community Fund page here or contact the Community Fund Manager via email at [email protected].