Northern Powergrid, the company that powers everyday life for 8 million people across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire has teamed up with Solutions for the Planet and sponsored their Central Belt Scotland and North England Big Ideas Competition Regional Finals.

The Big Ideas Programme encourages creative thinking and teamwork and develops STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) and wider employability skills as well as giving young people a voice in the dialogue around sustainability and linking their ideas to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The students aged 11-to-14 used their genuine and very real concerns about the impact people are having on the planet, and how this may affect the future with polluted oceans, deforestation, carbon emissions, global warming and endangered species featuring across many of the ‘Big Ideas’ solutions.  The messages were all passionately voiced and eloquently expressed with a clear focus that we must take action now.

Some 40 students across 15 teams presented on the day, from four schools (Kingsmeadow Community School, North Durham Academy, Outwood Academy Freeston, and Bannockburn High School) with each team delivering a five minute presentation and answering questions from the judging panel.

The ‘Big Ideas’ ranged from a gaming app’s that raises awareness of global warming to self-driving, environmentally-friendly transit pods which travel along repurposed railway lines.

The judges included representatives from Tarmac, IGEM, SGN, MearsGroup, NGNGas, Kongsberg, as well as guest judges Auli Miles from Child Friendly Leeds, Michael Atkins from Furthr, and Yvana Ferreira.

Jen Baughan, CEO, Solutions for the Planet, said: “Young people have passion, creativity and a huge amount of resilience. Through the Big Ideas Programme we create a space for these young people to develop solutions to global sustainability issues that matter to them. Our Competition provides a platform for their ‘Big Ideas’ to be nurtured through mentoring and development.

“Without the investment of our Business Partner Network these ‘Big Ideas’ would not be shared with the world. I’d like to thank Northern Powergrid for their support and sponsorship of the Central Belt Scotland and North England Regional Final this year and helping encourage more young people develop STEM Skills.”

Michelle Cummings, Northern Powergrid’s Social Responsibility Manager, said: “Being a Force for Good goes beyond our network and simply powering everyday life. We have a real commitment to making a positive contribution to the communities we work and live in. We’re very proud to sponsor the Big Ideas Competition Regional Finals for Central Belt Scotland and North England and help inspire and encourage our young people to develop their STEM skills and have innovative ideas about how to get to net zero and make the world a better place.”

The winners for Northern England were Waste Warriors, three Year 8 students from North Durham Academy: “Our Big idea is a community garden where people can bring their scrap food. We will then grow it and if it is not suitable to be re-grown, we can put it in a compost heap. When our vegetables and fruit are ready, we can give back to people who have donated with fresh vegetables. Which in turn we will receive waste from. With left over harvest, we will give to the people in need. We will encourage local schools to work with us and see if we can get local restaurants and supermarkets to donate product also.  Our project is based on food waste and education.”

The winners, the Waste Warriors Team from North Durham Academy in Durham, along with another two teams from Northern Powergrid’s region - the Greenways team from Outwood Academy Freeston in Wakefield and the Save Our Earth team from Kingsmeadow Community School in Gateshead - will be attending the virtual final on the  23 June 2021.

Northern Powergrid has made a strong commitment to being a force for the good by delivering positive impacts in the communities it serves. Find out more about how the company is increasing spending on social initiatives during its next business plan period (2023-2028) and have your say on its plans by visiting ed2plan.northernpowergrid.com.