Grants of up to £1,500 are available in many parts of the United Kingdom for local groups to support social and environmental projects and activities that benefit the residents around Next Energy’s solar assets.
The fund is provided by NextEnergy and administered by BizGive.
The NextEnergy Solar Fund website provides a map showing the locations of the company's worldwide assets.
The funding is intended for activities that will have positive social, economic and/or environmental impacts on the area, in particular by:
- Supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation.
- Promoting a just transition.
- Promoting general skills development, and/or
- Improving local education.
Examples of eligible projects include (please note that this is not an exclusive list):
- Community education initiatives on sustainable practices to mitigate and adapt to climate change (for example, energy conservation, waste reduction, and sustainable agriculture).
- Community education projects focusing on health and wellbeing.
- Projects encouraging and promoting skills, education, and training in climate solutions. Such as upskilling and reskilling workshops with a focus on the renewable energy sector, and
- The development of educational initiatives that focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Applications, which are assessed on a rolling basis, are accepted up until Thursday 24 October 2024 or until the fund is fully committed, whichever is the sooner (the Fund has been open since October 2023 and may therefore be quite well spent up in some areas).
An application form and guidance are available from the BizGive website. Each geographic area - as detailed above - has its own link to BizGive so we have featured the link for the South West. Please note that applicants are required to register with BizGive in the first instance.