Shetland Aerogenerators Ltd, operators of the Burradale wind farm, signed an agreement with SCBF for £10,000 a year for the next 10 years beginning from 1st May 2021. This follows the agreement SCBF has already signed with the Viking windfarm developers, SSE Renewables.
The Shetland Aerogenerators Community Benefit Fund will be managed by SCBF separately from the Viking Community Fund.
For the first two years of the fund the money was used to support an active travel and road safety consultation project in Shetland and it reopened to support the relaunch of the Shetland Science Festival in November 2024.
SCBF chair, Chris Bunyan, said he was delighted to have signed this second community benefit agreement. “SCBF was set up to work with all commercial renewable energy developers in the islands and this agreement shows how each one can be adapted to suit the developer and community interests. I would like to thank the directors of Shetland Aerogenerators for their positive help and encouragement in finalising this agreement.”
SACBF - New science equipment purchased and Science Festival Relaunched in November 2024
Shetland Community Benefit Fund is delighted to announce a project to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities and education in local schools. The project has been financed over 5 years from the Shetland Aerogenerators Community Benefit Fund, managed by SCBF. There are two components to the project:
- Over £6,000 spent on new equipment for the Science Investigations programme for local science technicians based at the Anderson High School to use across all of Shetland's schools at all levels and by senior pupils in STEM Leaders Clubs.
- Re-introduction of an annual Shetland Science Fair which last took place in 2009. A four year plan started in 2024, initially on a relatively small scale, but building each year to larger-scale festival in 2026-2027.
The grant has been awarded to Brae High School Parent Council to implement the project for the benefit of all students across Shetland.
SACBF – Helping Shetland get more active
Shetland Community Benefit Fund, through the SACBF supported a Shetland-wide consultation project intended to encourage people to be more active through walking, running or cycling with a £20,000 grant.
This was the first award from the Shetland Aerogenerators Community Benefit Fund and among the benefits of the scheme should be more pupils walking to school, increased physical and mental health among pupils and their families and also help to improve road safety.
The Activate Shetland Project was initiated by the Bell’s Brae Primary School Parent Council and the grant was used to commission a consultation plus development and design work project ahead of a six-week event to get more people throughout Shetland being more active through walking, running and cycling.
The idea of the Activate Shetland Project was to run a Shetland-wide activity game, starting in May 2022, using RFID and Geofencing technology.
The community benefit grant was used for a specialist public health investigation to establish existing activity levels in the community, reasons for inactivity, and levels and reasons for health inequalities.
