Directors of the Awel Co-op wind farm in the Amman Valley will be gifting over £30,000 worth of shares to local community groups this Christmas.

One of the first beneficiaries is Tairgwaith Primary School which received £500 worth of shares and a certificate of ownership during a recent visit by Year 5 and 6 pupils.

The wind farm, located about 20 miles north of Swansea, was commissioned in January having secured £5.25m from Triodos, one of the largest investments ever seen in the Amman Valley.

As well as providing enough clean energy to power 2,500 homes each year, the two 2.35MWh wind turbines generate revenue which is then reinvested in the local community.

In addition to Tairgwaith’s donation, the community co-op which owns the wind farm has gifted £500 worth of shares each to Tiddlywinks Nursery in Ystalyfera, Swansea Bay Asylum Seekers and Canolfan Maerdy, a local regeneration charity.

A further £30,000 worth of shares has been earmarked for local community groups.

Founding director Dan McCallum, who was recently presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Renew Wales in recognition of his pioneering work tackling climate change, explains: “Awel Co-op wind farm is a community energy project and we want our turbines to be owned by as many local people and groups as possible. We were delighted to be in a position to donate shares to Tairgwaith Primary School who will enjoy a projected five per cent return per year for 20 years on their £500 investment.

“The wind farm is already a fantastic educational resource, teaching the next generation about the importance of sustainability, but we wanted to go one step further. Now Tairgwaith pupils will be able to visit the site whenever they want to and say, ‘we own those windmills!’.

“Of course, none of this would be possible without the financial backing of Triodos Bank, who have been with us every step of the way and continue to support us as we reach another milestone, the end of our first full year of operation.

“Our share offer is still open to the public until we reach our target of £3 million. To date, we’ve raised £2.5 million.

"Visit awel.coop if you’d like to join us."