Schools, sports clubs and shopping cards: How to get the most out of a “community benefit scheme”

Community benefit schemes, often worth hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars, have become a standard feature of renewable energy projects – but local communities are quickly learning the importance of having a strong understanding of what’s on the table, and what they should be bargaining for. 🤔

🤔What’s in the scheme? A community benefit scheme is when a company working on a large renewable energy project gives back to the local community. It’s a way for developers behind a project to share its gains.

👀 What giving back looks like: The returns on a community benefit scheme can take multiple forms, but is often in the form of money for local developments like schools or parks, a commitment to jobs and training, or a support for facilities and services. While a community benefit scheme might commonly deliver funding, it can also create employment pathways, a discount on energy bills, or offer co-ownership and co-investment programs.

🌀Good vs bad: When done well, the best schemes are created with locals, are flexible enough to meet changing needs, and reflect the “unique character of each community”. 

But when handled poorly, they risk deepening divisions if residents feel the benefits aren’t shared fairly.

⏱️ Check timelines: Community benefit schemes can range in payback timelines. That means they can be annual contributions for five, 10, or more years. Understanding the timeframe allows you to plan how the benefits are used – and the kinds of projects the funds can contribute to. 

💵 How much money to expect? While there’s no set standard for how much a company needs to commit to a local community’s benefit scheme, communities are getting between 800k and $1.8M per gigawatt per year for wind projects, and between $150k and $800k per per gigawatt per year for solar farms. 

🚜 Cards for residents: In Western Victoria, Mortlake South Wind Farm directs funds straight into the hands of residents living closest to turbines, issuing preloaded EFTPOS cards valued at between $500 and $2000 annually to be spent only at local businesses. 

Since 2019, more than $62,000 has flowed through grocers, hardware stores and other shops in Mortlake, Noorat and Terang from these cards. 

💰Grants, grants, grants: Nearby at Dundonnell, the community receives $50,000 a year for local projects ranging from skills training to education programs. 

At Macarthur Wind Farm, between Hawkesdale and Macarthur, a flexible support fund has backed everything from youth programs to sporting upgrades.

Waubra Wind Farm has run one of the state’s longest-standing schemes, delivering about $100,000 annually to small projects for more than 15 years.

🗣️Andrew Bray, national director of the Renewable Energy Alliance, pointed to Waubra as a benchmark. 

He said the fund’s success lay in bringing together “all the different [Country Fire Authority brigades], all the different landcare groups, the school, the kindergarten, the footy club” to agree on priorities. 

That level of cooperation, Bray said, had created a positive legacy.

🪟Transparency a must: Bray warned, however, that without transparency and early community involvement, schemes could falter. 

“Any distribution of new funding in a region has to be handled well, because people want to see that funds are distributed fairly so that one group isn’t being favoured over another,” he told the Brolga. 

He also noted that while councils sometimes step into negotiations, often it falls to communities themselves to press developers on what they expect.

“It would be good if there was perhaps more consistency around it like in New South Wales, the councils are at the center of those community negotiations,” Bray said.

📚Advice for towns: His advice for towns approached by energy companies was simple: do the homework. 

Look at what has worked elsewhere, be clear about local priorities, and come to the table ready to negotiate. 

“When communities are stepping up and saying, these are the things we want, and this is how we want things to work, companies are really listening,” Bray said.