NORTH Highland College is to get a funding boost after signing a partnership agreement with Whirlwind Renewables.
The agreement – formally signed on Friday morning – means the college could get between £30,000 and £50,000 a year from the company’s wind-farm project at Wathegar, near Wick.
The Yorkshire-based firm will provide the money through its Wathegar 2 project, to support skills development and employment opportunities in the renewable-energy sector in Caithness. The fund will be payable for the lifetime of the Wathegar 2 wind farm.
In addition to that financial support, the company is to award an annual Whirlwind Renewables Prize to the value of approximately £500 to be presented to local students, although the criteria is yet to be decided.
Gordon Jenkins, principal of North Highland College UHI, said: “We are delighted that Whirlwind Renewables has decided to offer community support to help reskilling and upskilling in this emerging sector which will ultimately contribute to the economic regeneration of the North Highlands.
“North Highland College is delighted to enter into this partnership and we look forward to further effective and beneficial collaboration in the future”
The Wathegar 2 site is located on land near Flex Hill, Wathegar and Achairn wind farms, eight kilometres west of Wick.
It is envisaged that the Wathegar 2 wind farm will produce enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 13,400 homes.
