The Danish Minister for Climate, Energy and Supply has announced changes to how residents living close to renewable energy plants are compensated.
The changes are published on the Danish Energy Agency’s website.
The proposed new compensation scheme would give people living close to wind, solar and other renewable energy plants a tax-free bonus.
Residents living within a distance that is up to eight times the wind turbine’s height at the site, or within 200 metres of a solar farm will receive an annual cash tax-free bonus.
The bonus is based on a share of the production equivalent to 5kW, which corresponds to Dkr5000 (€670) annually for an onshore wind farm and Dkr2000 for a photovoltaic plant.
The bonus will depend on both the amount of sun and wind and the electricity price.
The changes also propose that assessment of any loss to residential property value, due to the proximity of a renewable power plant be moved to after the plant has started operations and produced the first kWh.
This will ensure any loss of value evaluated by the tax authority is directly related to visual impact the plant has, which could impact nearby residential property values.
Other changes include a new fund into which renewable energy plant owners must pay.
The ‘green pools’ will be created and managed by municipal governments and will help increase municipal incentives to promote green development.
Municipalities could use the funds to benefit local areas near newly built renewable energy plants. The scheme entails that the plant owner pays a lump sum equivalent to DK88,000 a year.