A community centre in Newhaven could save as much as £5,000 a year on its energy bills, thanks to a grant from Rampion Wind Farm’s Community Benefit Fund, which has made a last call for 2026 applications, closing on 19th May.
The Hillcrest Centre in Newhaven, which is used by over 50 community groups, received a £20,000 grant from the 2025 Rampion Fund towards installing solar panels and batteries this spring. The funding is available as a direct result of the operation of the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm.
“Our energy bill is one of the biggest challenges for us, and thanks to a grant of £20,000 from the Rampion Fund, we will shortly install solar panels and batteries at the centre, which will potentially save us £5,000 a year on our energy bills and be much greener,” said Paula Woolven, Chair of Trustees at the Hillcrest Centre.
£150,000 in grants for community projects that align with the fund criteria are available in the Sussex region from Littlehampton Harbour in the west to Beachy Head in the east and up to the A272 near Twineham in the north. All details on how to apply to the fund, as well as the map detailing the area of benefit, can be found on Sussex Community Foundation’s website.
“Charities, community groups and not-for-profit organisations are encouraged to apply with environmentally friendly projects, such as investments renewable energy for community buildings, as well as other schemes that are sustainable and benefit the local community,” said Hannah Clay, Head of Grants & Impact at Sussex Community Foundation.
Community projects in Sussex tackling fuel poverty, environmental education, marine ecology and nature conservation, sustainable transport and awareness raising, renewable energy and energy conservation have benefited from the fund. These include Pelican Parcels in Hove, Creative Heart and Arun Youth Aqua Centre in Littlehampton, The Hillcrest Centre in Newhaven, Henfield Youth Club, Fabrica in Brighton, Saltdean Lido and many more.
Run by Sussex Community Foundation, over the past eight years the Fund has provided £2.1 million in grants and supported 255 Sussex community projects and benefitted more than a million local people in Sussex.
“We are delighted to have supported such impactful and important projects in Sussex and hope many more will apply and benefit this year,” said Kelvin Macleod, RWE’s Acting Stakeholder Manager for Rampion Offshore Wind Farm.
For more information about the Rampion Community Benefit Fund and how to apply, visit the Grants pages at:
https://sussexcommunityfoundation.org/rampion
The RWE-operated Rampion Offshore Wind Farm supplies enough green energy to power the equivalent of almost 409,000 homes – around half the homes in Sussex – and reduces CO2 emissions by up to 600,000 tonnes a year.