Shona King, Drax Group Head of Community, said: “Drax has a long tradition of giving back to the communities we operate in, and this year we have stepped up our community funding to allow us to support even more good causes and ensure our business has a positive impact on people, nature and the climate. We are pleased to announce that in the first round of community funding this year we will be awarding close to £60,000 of grants to 40 different organisations in the UK which support STEM education and skills or work to improve the local community.”
Of the total, £14,350 has been awarded to 11 different community-led projects local to Drax’s operations in Scotland. This includes Embers Aquatics who run water safety workshops for primary schools in the Cruachan area, Oban Junior Community Football Club to help them purchase sports equipment and run a training camp trip, Wildcat Explorer Scouts Argyll to purchase climbing equipment and Rockfield Primary School to develop an outdoor area for children with complex needs.
Anna Roscoe, Founding Director of Embers Aquatics, said: “Swimming is a lifesaving skill as well as a great form of exercise, yet the number of children unable to swim in the UK is rising at a drastic rate. This is particularly worrying as we have seen a number of tragic incidents in Scottish waters in recent years. Last summer, we ran vital water safety workshops for local children in schools across Lochaber and now with the help of this funding we plan to expand the workshops to more rural areas across Scotland including the three primary schools close to Cruachan, ensuring that as many children as possible benefit from water safety education.”
Drax’s Community Fund donations are awarded once a quarter to local projects in the regions where Drax operates which fit into the following categories:
- STEM education, skills development, and employability
- Improving green spaces in local communities
- Improving our communities
Kevin Roy, from the Oban Junior Community Football Club, said: “Our football club is an inclusive group which gives children of all backgrounds the opportunity to socialise, meet new people and have fun, all whilst promoting mental and physical health and wellbeing. Securing additional funding helps massively with alleviating some of the financial burden imposed on parents, especially families who are struggling due to the financial challenges that we are facing at present. This donation from Drax will help to cover a whole host of costs from equipment and pitch fees to transport and the annual football trip which is so beneficial for our young people.”
Drax’s Community Fund provides donations of £500-£2,000 for community-led projects. In addition, the Drax Foundation was launched in March this year to award larger grants of up to £50,000 for established non-profit organizations.
Organisations and initiatives that meet Drax’s funding and selection criteria are encouraged to visit www.drax.com/community to learn more about the Foundation and submit an initial expression of interest.
ENDS
Pic Caption: Oban Junior Community Football Club 2016 Team
Media contacts:
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936 350 175
Editor’s Notes
The organisations that have been awarded funding near to Drax’s operations in Scotland are:
- Oban Junior Community Football Club
- Inveraray Primary School Shinty
- Cambuslang FC 2012
- Taynuilt Sports Council
- South West of Scotland Piping & Drumming Academy
- Terregles Youth FC
- Locharbriggs Primary School
- Rockfield Primary School
- Corpus Christi Primary School
- Embers Aquatics
- Wildcat Explorer Scouts Argyll
About Drax
Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.
Drax’s around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) Incubation Area.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan.
The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tonnes of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the UK by 2030 and is currently developing models for North American and European markets.
Pellet production and supply:
The Group has 19 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tonnes a year.
Drax is targeting 8 million tonnes of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tonnes of new biomass pellet production capacity. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.
Drax’s pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.
Customers:
Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.
To find out more go to the website energy.drax.com