10 January 2007 00:00
E.ON UK to be principal sponsor for Great Yarmouth firework displays

E.ON UK, the company that owns and operates the Scroby Sands offshore wind farm, is to sponsor Great Yarmouth’s seafront firework displays in 2007.

The six summer firework displays are organised by Great Yarmouth Borough Council and the Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority and regularly attract thousands of people to the seafront.

And this year’s shows will now have E.ON UK as their principal sponsor, with the cash helping to fund the fireworks and promotion work.

Jon Beresford, Asset Leader for E.ON UK, said: “We marked the official opening of the wind farm with a fireworks display so this was quite an apt decision.

“It’ll also give us the chance to be right at the heart of the local community, who have all been very supportive of the Scroby Sands project, pretty much since day one.”

The events could also encourage even more visitors to Great Yarmouth and the Scroby Sands Information Centre, which has had another successful year with more than 30,000 people coming to find out more about the wind farm.

“We even had one couple come to visit us who came all the way to Great Yarmouth from Japan just to have a look at the wind farm, which is fantastic, if a little unexpected,” said Jon.

The company also employs 20 people locally to work on the wind farm and injects around £500,000 into the local economy every year.

Ends

Notes to editors:
•E.ON is the UK’s largest integrated power and gas company – generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas – and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ around 15,000 people in the UK;
•E.ON is one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 20 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We also burn biomass material mixed with coal in two of our power stations and are currently building the UK’s largest dedicated biomass power station at Lockerbie. We own the largest hydro power station in England and Wales. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester.

For more information contact:
Jonathan Smith on 024 7618 3676
Rebecca Middleton on 024 7618 3677