Vattenfall currently employs over 80 people at its offices on Haugh Lane in Hexham and the wildlife charity has a number of nature reserves in close proximity to the offices including Juliet’s Wood, Close House and Tony’s Patch.

The aim of the European energy company, founded in Sweden in 1909, is to have a net positive impact on biodiversity by 2030. Climate change poses a major threat to biodiversity, and by investing in a fossil fuel free future, the organisation is committed to protecting and enhancing the natural environment by implementing a broad range of very local habitat enhancement measures, both at existing sites and those in development, as well as preventing carbon entering the atmosphere.

Since Vattenfall established an office in Hexham in 2008, the company has invested nearly £4 billion in fossil fuel free energy developments around the UK, including its Ray Wind Farm near Kirkwhelpington in Northumberland, which produces enough renewable energy to power 10% of Northumberland’s annual electricity needs*.

At the Kirkwhelpington site, 130 hectares of land, equivalent to 10% of the surface area of Kielder Water, is under environmental management for peat and heather restoration. Monitoring of the UK’s smallest bird of prey is also taking place with 18 merlin chicks, ringed and fledged within the wind farm site since the start of operations in 2017.

In May 2021, a donation of £2018.00 from Ray Wind Funds helped children from six schools in Northumberland celebrate life getting back to normal post lockdown when they became nature detectives for the day.

Trekking through Kielder with the wildlife charity’s Restoring Ratty water vole team, the youngsters explored water vole habitats, searched for tracks and signs of water vole activity, found out more about water vole food chains as well as learning basic fieldwork skills and how to map wildlife sightings, all of which was wonderful for their mental health.

Matt Bacon, Senior Project Manager at Vattenfall said:

“We are delighted to become a gold supporter of Northumberland Wildlife Trust. Our organisation has a strong connection to Northumberland through our Ray Wind Farm, our office at Hexham and our 80 staff, based here largely, live in the county and love its wild places.

“We are committed to protecting the natural environment through the habitat management plans which are in place for all of our wind farms, helping to protect and enhance important wildlife habitat, benefitting both the climate and local communities.”

Mike Pratt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Chief Executive said:

“I am very pleased to welcome Vattenfall as Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s newest gold supporter.

“The company is a great example of a non-fossil fuel energy generating company passionate about balancing environmental, landscape and nature conservation, as well as support the local economy and communities with green jobs.

“The Ray Wind Farm alone has already supported many environmental good causes locally, including our Restoring Ratty and Red Squirrels Northern England projects.

“I am really looking forward to developing a positive partnership to influence and help deliver future larger scale sustainable nature enhancements in Northumberland.”