Skanda Vale, the sanctuary near Llanpumsaint that is home to Asian elephants Valli and Bala, has been awarded £251,545 to store the green power it already makes.
The charity will install battery storage and public electric vehicle charging points, so it can make better use of what its wind turbine and solar panels generate.
Together, those systems have cut its electricity bills from around £1,000 a week to almost zero, saving more than £40,000 a year, according to the Welsh Government.
How a wind turbine cut Skanda Vale’s £1,000-a-week bill
The turbine was paid for with earlier money from Ynni Cymru, a Welsh Government scheme that helps communities and organisations make and use their own clean energy. It works alongside a solar array the charity already had.
Skanda Vale puts its savings back into free community services, including meals, accommodation and retreats, the Welsh Government says.
It says the charity’s Bwyd o Skanda food aid project shared out 98 tonnes of food through partner organisations in 2025.
Around 100,000 people visit the site each year, by the same account. The batteries are meant to keep its services running through power cuts and severe weather.
Where Skanda Vale’s 98 tonnes of food go
One of the places its food ends up is Big Bocs Bwyd in Llandeilo. “We have benefited greatly from dry goods such as rice, tea and pulses supplied by Skanda Vale in the past, for which we and our visitors are very grateful,” said Collette Sanders, of the project.
She said those donations had helped the project support “more than 1,000 visits to our facility” over the past year.
She added: “I know that this investment will directly strengthen the local food support network at a time when our communities most need it.”
Seven west Wales projects share £2.75m
Skanda Vale is one of seven projects in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion sharing £2.75m in this round. Other groups to receive funding include Mandala Yoga Ashram at Llanwrda, Carmarthenshire Energy Ltd (Ynni Sir Gar), Renewable Power Pembrokeshire, Clarbeston Road Memorial Hall, Clynfyw and Ynni Bro Rhian Cyfyngedig.
Across Wales, 24 organisations share £8.27m in the third round, including two in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot. The Welsh Government says the scheme has backed more than 80 projects worth more than £31m since 2023.
Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy Adam Price said the projects showed “how clean energy can deliver real benefits for local people, whether that’s supporting community halls, helping charities continue vital services or enabling organisations to reinvest savings into the people they serve”.
Skanda Vale also runs a hospice near the village, where Soul Midwife Kiera Jones was made an MBE in June.
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