Leading Social Impact organisation, ANTZ Cymru, has been appointed by Wales-based renewable energy developer, Bute Energy, to support their work in delivering positive, meaningful benefits for communities across Wales.

Bute Energy is committed to creating a greener future for communities in Wales by providing clean, affordable energy while fostering local economic growth and social well-being. Every turn of a turbine will generate funds to benefit the communities closest to their proposed energy parks and enable them to flourish for future generations, too.

The company is committed to ensuring the benefits to the local communities align with key themes within the flagship Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. They have appointed ANTZ Cymru to work with its chosen suppliers, charity partners, and community groups to deliver long-term, sustainable, impactful community change which is accurately monitored and evaluated.

ANTZ Cymru is developing a bespoke person-centred, Social Value monitoring system on behalf of Bute Energy that tracks the individual. It will ensure Bute Energy’s community targets are met by placing charities and community groups in control of assessing and updating on progress, rather than taking the traditional approach of letting suppliers and contractors mark their own Social Impact homework. 

Each contract awarded during development and construction will see partners sign up to the Bute Energy Social Value Standard and gain access to training through ANTZ Cymru. The standard will support and direct partners to invest jobs, time, resources and money into the communities near the company’s projects with guidance from the Community Benefit Team. The aim is to keep as much of the investment in Wales for the benefit of local communities.

ANTZ is well placed to deliver training to Bute Energy’s supply chain thanks to the launch of their first Social Impact learning accreditation, which, through ANTZ’ Responsible Framework, sets a standard for the business to deliver impact and legacy within the communities in which they operate. 

The qualification is part of a suite of training to create a culture of Social Impact within an organisation. It allows individuals to follow a journey and gain a clear understanding of Social Impact and how it can be integrated across work processes. It enables innovation and understanding of how to evaluate and report on impact, to then finally build a social strategy aligned to the overall business commercial plan. 

Significantly, the accreditation will also help businesses bring clarity to what Social Impact is, keeping it simple and providing a straightforward methodology to drive person-centred, impactful engagement, with Social Impact internally and externally. 

Catryn Newton, Community Benefit Director at Bute Energy, said: “It has never been so important to measure the Social Value of business, and at Bute Energy, we want to be leading the way in this field. We want our contract partners to move on from Social Value being seen as a tick box exercise – and instead focus on Social Value as delivering real tangible benefits to people’s wellbeing through community investment our projects will support. 

“We want to ensure we have robust governance and processes in place to effectively capture, measure and evaluate the Social Value we deliver, and our partnership with ANTZ Cymru is at the core of the forward-thinking, person-central approach to Social Value we’re striving to deliver for communities right across Wales. This is a first in Wales, and we’re proud to be working alongside ANTZ as a crucial partner to empower our people, suppliers and partners in our communities to do the right things.”

Commenting on its appointment, ANTZ Cymru CEO, Jen Pemberton says: “We are delighted to be supporting Bute Energy on what is a fantastic opportunity to not only deliver clean, renewable energy to communities throughout Wales, but ensure a lasting legacy is created within those communities, centred on jobs, training and opportunity, by placing community groups and charities at the heart of those plans.

“Wales is leading the way in the UK in ensuring Social Impact is front and centre of future development and Bute Energy is an exemplar of how to get Social Impact right. It is placing Social Impact at the heart of everything it does, and by bringing its supply chain on that journey is ensuring maximum impact within communities is achieved. Every organisation should look towards Bute Energy and its approach to community impact and look to do the same.”

The renewable energy team at Bute Energy is planning to deliver a family of wind and solar farms across Wales that will help achieve Government Net Zero targets, enabling the people of Wales to live modern lives through the use of electric vehicles, and electrically powered heat pumps to power businesses and heat homes.

To find out more about Bute Energy and their proposals, visit https://bute.energy/