Work by the Scottish Government has been welcomed. 

The Scottish Coalition on Community Energy has welcomed the Scottish Government’s consultation on community benefits, but says more is needed to deliver a fair energy deal for Scottish communities.  

The consultation, launched this week, comes after repeated calls from the Coalition for an update to community benefit standards from clean energy developments.

Since 2014 the Scottish Government’s Good Practice Principles have recommended a voluntary payment from developers to communities of £5,000 per Megawatt, per year, for onshore renewables. This figure has not increased with inflation.  

In a report, the community coalition urged the Scottish Government to increase this “good practice benchmark”. For onshore wind, they suggest £7.3k per Megawatt per year, plus additional payments to bring the total to at least 2.5% of the developer’s revenue from the project.

Different benchmarks could be set for offshore wind, hydro and solar, and for storage and grid projects, given the different business models and expected returns. 

The Coalition are also calling on the UK Government to make community benefit payments mandatory for all clean energy projects, including energy storage and transmission.

Amanda Grimm, policy manager at Community Energy Scotland, said: “We warmly welcome the Scottish Government’s consultation on community benefits Good Practice Principles. Community benefits are an investment in thriving communities and our energy future. They’ve already had a transformational impact, with millions of pounds from onshore wind going straight to local communities.

“But the benchmark has not been updated for over a decade, despite sky-high inflation in the rest of the economy and technology improvements which have increased to developer profit. It’s high time for an ambitious upgrade of good practice.

“We are all funding the energy transition through our energy bills, and yet far too many communities are struggling with fuel poverty, even – and sometimes especially – those that host renewables right on their doorstep. A just transition means sharing more of the wealth being generated by Scotland’s natural resources.”

The Scottish Coalition on Community Energy is a group of charitable organisations from the community sector: Community Energy Scotland, Development Trusts Association Scotland, Community Land Scotland and Scottish Communities Finance.