Community benefits should deliver a lasting strategic legacy, industry says

Scottish Renewables has today (April 17) called on the Scottish Government to take a tailored approach to community benefits to ensure they deliver a lasting strategic legacy.

In response to a public consultation on community benefits from renewable energy developments, Scottish Renewables has advocated for flexibility in future arrangements to ensure local decision-making and the economic viability of individual technologies are protected.

The Scottish Government is seeking to update existing guidance and best practice for community benefits from clean energy technologies. Since 1990, renewable energy developers in Scotland have invested more than £200 million of community benefit, with over £30 million awarded in the past year alone – largely from onshore wind.

Innovative local funds are supporting a variety of good causes from energy efficiency to skills development. Funding from onshore wind developments is expected to reach nearly £90 million per year by 2033, while more than £100 million is expected to be generated in community benefit from new transmission infrastructure across the North of Scotland.

Scottish Renewables believes that local communities who host clean energy generation infrastructure should receive tangible benefits. These are largely captured through economic growth, with an analysis of two wind farms in the Highlands demonstrating that every £1 of community benefit funding generated around £4.18 in local economic value.

The economic impact of the onshore wind supply chain has been found to be six times greater than the value of community benefit. New estimates have also revealed that local supply chain growth from offshore wind could be worth £34 billion for Scotland if new projects are delivered.

Key recommendations from Scottish Renewables include:

• Maintain the Good Practice Principles for onshore wind farms at £5,000 per installed megawatt (MW) per year.
• Enable Good Practice Principles for solar farms above 5MW at £400 per MW installed capacity for the lifetime of a project.
• Allow offshore wind developers to determine bespoke community benefit arrangements using Good Practice Principles designed collaboratively with industry.
• Strengthen all Good Practice Principles by providing guidance on capacity-building and ensure reporting is not overly bureaucratic for local communities.
• Design a community information initiative that outlines the likely parameters and economic realities for community investment or shared ownership schemes.

Claire Mack, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, said:

“As our clean energy transition gathers pace it is important to ensure a lasting strategic legacy is secured for Scotland. Delivering our pipeline of projects will provide a significant boost to the economy, bringing benefits to the whole country through high-value jobs, supply chain growth and inward investment.

“Scotland’s renewable energy industry is proud of its positive record to date on local community benefit funding which is delivered on an unrivalled scale. We want to find innovative ways to build on this, but that is only possible if the projects expected to provide transformational funds are economically viable.

“We strongly encourage the Scottish Government to take the holistic view that energy policy requires in its approach to community benefits. Local needs vary as do the economic realities of individual technologies, so tailored guidance is essential for keeping projects viable and communities empowered.

“Above all, we must not lose sight of the positive value generated for local communities through job creation and the security of more affordable clean energy. Scottish Renewables stands ready to work with the government to responsibly design community benefit funding that moves society and industry forward together.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• Free to use image of Claire Mack.
• Read the Scottish Renewables consultation response on our website with accompanying research from BiGGAR Economics and The Energy Landscape.
• The Scottish Government's consultation on community benefits from net-zero energy developments closed on April 11.
• Find out more about the Scottish Government's Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Energy Developments.
• Read the UK Government's proposals for community benefits from new transmission infrastructure.
• Search the Local Energy Scotland Community Benefits Register.