Community benefit
Community benefit schemes are a well-established part of onshore wind energy development. In theory, they offer an opportunity for communities to work with renewable energy businesses for the long-term benefit of the community. The funds could be used to support start up grants for small businesses, provide bursaries for further education and refurbish of community buildings.
According to the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy, there is an expectation that developers should offer community benefits in line with good practice principles. Whilst these are voluntary, these principles recommend that community benefit packages should have a value to the equivalent of at least £5,000 per installed megawatt per annum and be index-linked for the operational lifetime of the project. For a wind turbine being installed with a 5-megawatt capacity, that means £25,000 per turbine each year, distributed around neighbouring communities.
Across rural Scotland, this has pumped money into many communities, but despite this industry standard, the reality is that communities are often short-changed. It is estimated that the south of Scotland got more than £4m in community benefits in 2022, at just above £2,500 per megawatt per year (almost half of what it should have been).
In some cases there are questions on where the funds should go – perhaps the community doesn’t have sufficient projects, and some developers have struggled to find relevant communities where the benefit could be usefully and meaningfully deployed. The process isn’t necessarily clear.
There needs to be a process by which developers and communities work more closely together to ensure that benefit pledges are clearly set out, accurately budgeted and align with the community’s aspirations.