The East Riding of Yorkshire is to share in a new £25 million commitment to coastal communities as long-term legacy for Dogger Bank Wind Farm.
The commitment includes funding projects in East Riding of Yorkshire, Redcar and Cleveland and South Tyneside, to enhance STEM education, and help young people gain the skills and knowledge required to fulfil their potential in a net zero world.
The £25million investment will be delivered over the 35-year operational lifespan of Dogger Bank Wind Farm – set to be the world’s largest offshore wind farm when it is complete. It builds on the £1million community fund already invested during the construction phase of the wind farm.
The East Riding programme has been developed in partnership with East Riding of Yorkshire Council and local skills and education stakeholders. Bespoke science, technology, engineering and maths learning programmes will be available to all nursery and primary schools. Hundreds of teachers have already benefitted from STEM and careers focused professional development as they bring STEM learning to life within classrooms.
Hornsea Nursey is one of the settings which benefitted from funding through the community fund set up during the construction phase.
Claire White executive headteacher for Hornsea, Beverley Manor, Bridlington and Hedon nursery schools said: “Young children are natural scientists and engineers. Their inquiring minds and fearless approach to taking things apart and discovering how they work make them the perfect age to get excited about STEM. If we can foster this enthusiasm in the early years and ensure they develop a thirst for learning in subjects not typically introduced at this age, we can ignite a passion that will endure throughout their formal education and beyond. We can help cultivate the next generation of scientists, engineers, architects, mathematicians, ecologists, and more. This is the impact and potential legacy of the Dogger Bank funding.”
Dogger Bank Project Director Oliver Cass said: “It’s been our great privilege during the last three years to work with education providers and local communities to kickstart a programme of investment that is bringing long-term benefits for communities.
“It is vitally important that developers work in partnership with local communities in order to sustainably deliver the critical green energy infrastructure that will shape our future.”
Dogger Bank is more than 130km from the Yorkshire coast and will produce enough renewable energy to supply electricity to six million homes in the UK every year. The wind farm, a joint venture between SSE Renewables, Equinor, and Vårgrønn, produced first power in October 2023. The first two phases of the wind farm will transmit renewable energy into the national electricity network via the Creyke Beck substation near Beverley, close to the site where the project has built two onshore convertor stations over the last five years.
The project has already created or supported over 2,000 jobs in the UK, contributing to over 100,000 UK offshore wind jobs needed to meet current national targets to generate 50GW of capacity by 2030.
