Tom takes on key North West community engagement role with OnPath Energy
Leading renewables developer OnPath Energy has chosen Tom Chaplin to take the lead on its community work across North West England.
Tom has joined OnPath as its new partnership & community manager and will be working with local residents, community groups, landowners and other stakeholders in the areas around the company’s two onshore wind farms in the area, as well as in locations where new renewable energy projects are being built or planned.
Tom brings more than 15 years’ communications industry experience to his new role gained across a number of marketing and stakeholder engagement roles, including within the renewable energy sector.
Prior to that, he worked in the television industry, working as an assistant director and a writer on a range of well-known programmes, including Monarch Of The Glen, Peak Practice and Eastenders.
OnPath Energy is one of the UK onshore renewable energy sector’s leading owner/operators and has two operation onshore wind farms in the North West - the Armistead Wind Farm, which sits to the east of the M6 between junctions 36 and 37 in south Cumbria, and the Heysham South Wind Farm.
Tom Chaplin says: “After nearly a decade working in renewables, I’ve found that the stakeholder engagement work I’ve done in that time has been the most rewarding part of the job and the opportunity to do that full time with OnPath Energy is something I’m relishing.
“It gives me the chance to get involved with a wide range of developing and mature projects, and to have a real impact on the business’s success through the positive relationships that we develop across our communities.”
OnPath’s North West wind farms generated over 54,700 MWh of electricity between them during 2024, which is enough to meet the average annual electricity needs of almost 19,000 homes, while as part of the company’s OnPath Together value-led approach, they also delivered combined revenues of more than £29,500 last year to their respective community benefits funds.
Robin Winstanley, sustainability and community director at OnPath Energy, adds: “We place people, communities and planet at the heart of everything we do, and believe that better projects come through listening, collaborating and delivering with care and consideration.
“Tom has a very impressive track record in effective and meaningful stakeholder engagement and is an excellent addition to the OnPath community team.”