Northern Powergrid Foundation is pleased to announce that it has been established and is ready to support communities across the North East, Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire.

The Northern Powergrid Foundation’s ('Foundation') mission, complementing Northern Powergrid’s ambition to be a force for good in the communities it serves, is to support communities most affected by changes in the economy, environment, and society because of the shifting energy landscape. We want to improve the resilience of local communities, with a particular focus on those people who need help the most both in storm situations and the longer-term effects of climate change. This will be achieved by supporting projects focussed on helping to tackle energy resilience during emergency events, vulnerability, fuel poverty, levelling the rural divide, innovation, social support, and community collaboration.

As part of the trial launch over the past nine months, The Foundation has worked with Northern Powergrid’s community partners to identify the best ways to create a positive and enduring impact for those worst affected by storm Arwen. The Foundation is proud to have funded over 40 unique and exciting energy resilience projects for communities within Northumberland and County Durham. These projects have largely been for the creation of or the expansion of community hubs with energy resilience pieces of kit, such as generators, solar panels and heat pumps.

The Foundation is pleased to announce it will be open to applications from across all of Northern Powergrid’s operating region in June. The Foundation will be open for applications biannually and its second window of 2023 will be open in June and will award grants by October.

Community groups interested in finding out more about applying for funding up to £20,000 from The Northern Powergrid Foundation, should read the online material readily available. 

Louise Lowes, Northern Powergrid’s Head of Customer Services and a Foundation Trustee, said: "The Northern Powergrid Foundation is directing funds to the communities within our region that need it the most. As a Trustee, I look forward to receiving applications across all of the Foundation’s funding priority areas and from all of the geographical area supported by Northern Powergrid. This fund can really be a force for good and can make a real difference to the communities supported. We invite all communities to register their interest in the Foundation today to be kept informed when we are open to receiving grant applications”