The developers of the 857MW Triton Knoll offshore wind farm off the east coast of England are making donations to two local food bank charities in Lincolnshire as a gesture to mark working safely on the project for more than 2 million hours.
Triton Knoll, which is being built by Innogy and is located 32km off the Lincolnshire coast, is donating £2000 (€2288) each to The Rock Foundation in Grimsby and the Boston Foodbank.
Staff on the wind farm were keen that their recognition of this achievement helped local good causes, and so the food banks, which support local people in food poverty in some of the most deprived areas in the region, were selected to receive the donations.
The Rock Foundation operates food banks in Grimsby on the east coast of England and provides learning support for 90 young pupils with learning difficulties.
However, the impact of the current coronavirus crisis has caused a huge rise in demand, while stretching resources to the limit.
Triton Knoll and Innogy project director Julian Garnsey said: “We’ve all seen in the media that fighting food poverty is hard enough without the added challenges that these uncertain times have brought, and we feel that the food bank charities that work so hard to help local people deserve all the help we can give them.
“The safety and welfare of our teams is a top priority for us, and so I’m pleased that we are also able to do something to help support the welfare of the more vulnerable people in our local communities.”
The Rock Foundation founder and chief executive Pam Hodge (pictured) said that the support of local businesses is vital to the long term survival of local charities and their work with the most vulnerable members of society.
She said: “In the last two weeks, we’ve dealt with 1296 clients needing food, with each of those people going away with a food parcel suitable for nine meals.
“This is a huge increase over 700 from this time last year – it’s gone crazy with the amount of people needing help.
“Donations like this will help the foodbank tremendously. At this time, charities are under more pressure than ever and we really need more of this kind of support if we’re to keep going and still be around after the Corona crisis is over.”
Triton Knoll said it is dedicated to becoming one of the safest projects in construction and has put health and safety performance at the very top of its priority list.
It promotes a culture that encourages all members of the team and contractors to ‘Start Safe and Act Safe, to get Home Safe’.
Since construction officially started in September 2018 and before the spread of the coronavirus, the project had not had a single member of its team unable to return to work as a result of an incident or accident.
The first offshore substation for the project was installed earlier this month.
Innogy is managing construction on behalf of its project partners J-Power (25%) and Kansai Electric Power (16%).