Scottish Renewables has 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 £200m of community benefit, with over £30m awarded in the past year alone – largely from onshore wind.
Funding from onshore wind developments is expected to reach nearly £90m per year by 2033, while more than £100m 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 £34bn for Scotland if new projects are delivered.
Recommendations from Scottish Renewables include maintaining the Good Practice Principles for onshore wind farms at £5000 per installed megawatt (MW) per year and enabling Good Practice Principles for solar farms above 5MW at £400 per MW installed capacity for the lifetime of a project.
Other recommendations include allowing offshore wind developers to determine bespoke community benefit arrangements using Good Practice Principles designed collaboratively with industry and strengthening all Good Practice Principles by providing guidance on capacity-building and ensure reporting is not overly bureaucratic for local communities.
Claire Mack, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, said: “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.”