Hi I’m Katy Woodington and I’m the UK Community Investment Manager for RWE Innogy UK, a wind farm developer. Coming from a voluntary sector background I was extremely keen to be involved with making a difference. I wanted to see community fund money spent wisely and make a demonstrable difference to the people that our wind farms serve.

A lot of my work is ‘pre consent’ so I spend my time listening to communities to try and understand how RWE’s wind farm funding could support them. I also get to visit local projects – like this play park supported by Knabs Ridge Wind Farm – and causes that have been made possible by the funding they get and this is a real treat.

Some great examples of community benefits include the Carno Wind Farm Community Fund, which has committed a proportion of their annual fund to the ‘Build our School’ project; using the wind farm funding to help secure a mortgage to make the project possible. And Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm, which has funded salaries for after school club staff; creating local employment and helping to make it viable for parents to return to work.