After careful consideration, Community Power Agency has decided to step back from the organising role for the 2024 Community Energy Congress. However, we are thrilled to announce that the Coalition for Community Energy (C4CE) will be taking the lead as the official organiser for the event. C4CE has now partnered with the Smart Energy Council for the Congress and we believe this collaboration will further elevate the event’s impact and reach.

The Congress will now be held in Sydney at the International Convention Centre on the 6-7th of March 2024, with a new theme, “Fast, Fair, and Vital.” We are confident that this change will position the community energy sector as a vital player in the renewable energy transition.

While we are stepping back from the organising responsibilities, we are proud to continue our support for the Congress. We will be joining as sponsors in the new format and are excited to see the event flourish. For those who have been with us on this journey, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude. The Congress has, and continues to be, a testament to the strength and commitment of our community.

We encourage you to pre-register on the Congress website to stay updated and show your continued support. We look forward to seeing you at the Congress, celebrating the progress of community energy and its pivotal role in the clean energy transition. Tickets and a program outline will be released in the coming weeks.

Read our discussion paper: Regional Benefit Sharing – Creating strategic impacts for regions that host multiple renewable energy projects

Australia’s changing from fossil fuels to renewable energy isn’t just a technological shift, but also a spatial shift. As states ramp up renewable energy deployment, there has been an influx of infrastructure proposals in regional communities, most notably for those in state-designated ‘renewable energy zones’ (REZs).

Community benefit sharing 101

Amid the energy shift, community benefit sharing (CBS) has emerged as a crucial strategy to support regions hosting new renewable energy infrastructure. CBS involves sharing the benefits of renewable energy projects with the communities hosting them. The aim is to integrate these projects into local communities, contributing to their long-term vitality and success of the region.

Community benefit sharing typically involves financial support for community benefit programs, reaching not only immediate neighbours but also nearby towns and villages. These benefits can take various forms, including grants, partnerships, scholarships, or opportunities for community co-ownership. Crucially, the community plays a role in deciding what the benefits should be as without genuine community engagement, project proponents run the risk of CBS being perceived as an attempt to “buy out” or “bribe” the community. 

Why regional coordination of benefit sharing is needed

While Australia’s renewable energy sector has made strides in individual project-level benefit sharing, the challenge now is to efficiently and thoughtfully deliver multiple projects within designated regions. To maximise benefits and minimise adverse impacts, strategic planning is essential. Regions, governments, and industry must coordinate benefit sharing programs to empower communities and avoid duplicating efforts. 

Regional benefit sharing is defined as the strategic aggregation of community benefit sharing programs associated with energy projects that are located in a common geographic region. Whilst a current working model has not yet emerged in Australia there are 6 key reasons why it should:

1. Reducing engagement fatigue: Streamlining local engagement avoids overburdening communities and ensures effective solutions both in the set up and ongoing management of programs.
2. Changing community expectations: Evolving community expectations demand informed involvement and strategic outcomes from energy projects that address local concerns.
3. Diminishing small community projects to fund: Small community grant programs run out of suitable projects over time, limiting their impact. Coordination enables larger, more impactful initiatives.
4. Big picture legacy: Pooled funding can tackle long-term challenges, like climate resilience, public health issues and the shift in our energy system.
5. Leverage: Pooled funding opens doors to larger grants and funding streams.
6. Expanding Reach: Coordinated benefit sharing offers innovative ways to distribute benefits, reaching disadvantaged communities.

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Watch our webinar on Regional Benefit Sharing featuring a presentation by CPA authors Kim Mallee and Dr Jarra Hicks, followed by insights and Q&A with fellow leading experts: Lisa Lumsden, The Next Economy; Kate Hook, RE-Alliance; and Luke Osborne, Stride Renewables.

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How does regional benefit sharing work? 

Typically a developer of an energy infrastructure project will allocate funds towards community benefit sharing within a certain geographic area that hosts the project. When done well the community co-designs the benefit sharing program and its reach with the developer. This could create a positive impact for direct neighbours, nearby towns and villages or even the region at large. This practice has been fit for purpose where there has been only one of very few projects in a single region.

Regional benefit sharing works to coordinate multiple projects benefit sharing efforts at the neighbourhood and local community level whilst also pool and enable benefit sharing initiatives at a regional level. It is critical that regional benefit sharing models do not supersede or inhibit a project’s ability to deliver benefit sharing programs at the neighbourhood and local level and build trusted relationships with the host community. The split of funds between local or regional benefit sharing programs can be flexible over time and designed with the host community. 

Clarification Needed on Local Government Contributions

Victoria is the first jurisdiction to have a formalised statewide and consistent approach to calculating and collecting infrastructure contributions to Council from renewable energy developments. For remaining jurisdictions this is a lost opportunity to ensure that the economic prosperity and development in a local government area also contributes to the ongoing renewal of public infrastructure and services of that area.

NSW Councils for example, have the opportunity to negotiate voluntary planning agreements with developers when they are assessed as Major Projects. However this has led to varying outcomes ranging from receiving nothing to Councils receiving all of the potential community benefit sharing funds in place of the funds going directly to community. This scenario can inadvertently pit Council against the community in negotiations with the developer in the middle. The Victorian model of Payment in Lieu of Rates should be explored for delivery in other states as the number of projects and quantity of community benefit sharing funds per project are testament to its viability. 

Key recommendations 

Community Power Agency has been at the forefront of understanding and developing better practice community benefit sharing, through authoring multiple community benefit sharing guides delivering industry training, and working in Northern Tasmania, Gippsland in Victoria, and New England NSW REZ regions. We have compiled our insights into the Regional Benefit Sharing discussion paper which synthesises CBS experiences and models and provides key recommendations for government and industry stakeholders.

Strategic coordination is essential for benefit sharing to cultivate a social licence, a crucial component in achieving a fair and fast energy shift in regions hosting multiple energy infrastructure projects. 

Community Power Agency recommends:

1. All state governments co-design with communities regional benefit sharing programs, ensuring local community members are embedded in the governance structures.
2. Regional benefit sharing models are designed in a way that enables energy project developers to deliver both regional benefits as well as neighbourhood and local benefit sharing programs.
3. If REZ Access Fees are charged, they serve as a safety net or coordination of benefit sharing, rather than a substitute for individual project level benefit sharing initiatives.
4. Federal Government dedicates resources to the various entities involved in designing regional benefit sharing in order to contribute to nation-wide social licence for the energy shift.
5. State governments legislate the amount project proponents must contribute to the local government where their project is located, in lieu of rates or as infrastructure contributions. This payment should be separate and additional to the project’s community benefit sharing funds.

An emerging challenge in the transition to clean energy in regions such as New England, NSW, is land-use conflict, and the new practice of conservoltaics may be one solution. Conservoltaics refers to the process of combining solar energy production and biodiversity conservation and restoration.

Glenn Christie of Succession Ecology is rolling out conservoltaic initiatives (or “ecovoltaics” as he calls it) with great results in South Australia. Christie works with developers to build biodiversity on mid to large-scale solar farms in the red soil country.

“In this arid climate, we focus on native ground cover as a means to improve biodiversity along with efficiency for energy generation,” Christie said.

“Animals such as lizards and birds can thrive in the protected environment beneath the solar panels. Plus, the groundlayer keeps the panels cooler, thereby improving efficiency. Having groundcover  results in less dust, so once again, efficiency is improved and maintenance costs are reduced.” 

It’s a practice that a local collaboration is looking to bring to the New England renewable energy zone (REZ), situated halfway between Sydney and Brisbane on land traditionally managed by First Nations Custodians including Anaiwan, Banbai, Dunghutti and Gumbaynggirr. The REZ is part of a NSW government plan to produce 6-8GW of clean energy as aging coal-fired power stations are retired.  

While the shift from fossil fuels to renewables will help mitigate climate change, community members and environmentalists are concerned about the local impact that construction of wind and solar farms may have on wildlife habitats and ecology. 

The concerns follow conservation losses experienced recently in the region due to Black Summer bushfires, drought and other development such as new industrial and housing estates. 

Shared land-use options for agricultural land 

The practice of agrisolar (or agrivoltaics), in which sheep graze under panels, bees are kept or vegetables tended in interrows between arrays, for example, is beginning to address the potential conflict between land-use for renewable energy and agriculture. Early studies of co-benefits are promising, and in 2021, Clean Energy Council published the Australian Guide to Agrisolar for Large-Scale Solar to collate the early findings of agrisolar research and practice in Australia and internationally.   

Could a similar harmony be found to exist with conservation and renewable energy generation? Is it possible to not just avoid high conservation areas, but also to improve biodiversity on sites where under the prior agricultural land-use and drought it had suffered?

University of New England’s Eric Nordberg and James Cook University’s Lin Schwarzkopf have recently published a research summary of initial findings of the role solar farms can play in improving biodiversity, along with identifying gaps where further research is needed.

“The benefit of renewable energy in reducing carbon emissions is well known. But more work is needed to understand how solar farms can benefit wildlife,” Mr Nordberg said in an article he wrote in February for The Conversation. 

“Research is also lacking on how to locate, configure and manage solar farms to best enhance biodiversity. Collaborations between industry, land managers and researchers are needed so clean energy production and conservation can go hand-in-hand.”

CPA secures FRRR funding to develop a guide to bring better biodiversity on solar farms in the New England

CPA has secured a grant to co-ordinate a Guide to Better Biodiversity on Solar Farms, with support from the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal’s Strengthening Rural Communities Program.

The Guide will include strategies and case-studies to improve conservation planning and implementation on solar farms, with a focus on plant and animal communities that are endemic to the Northern Tablelands and Nandewar bioregions, in which the New England sits. It will draw on the collective experience of ecologists, conservation groups, landowners and solar farm operators.

Dave Carr is Principal Ecologist for Armidale-based consultancy Stringybark Ecological and will be a key collaborator on the Guide. For 30 years he has worked to restore and protect native vegetation, with a focus on the Nandewar and Northern Tablelands bioregions, where the New England REZ is located.  

“Solar farms present a set of opportunities and constraints for managing biodiversity in a fragmented landscape,” Mr Carr wrote in a letter of support for the application CPA made for grant funding to FRRR to produce the Guide. 

“Opportunities include: improvements in the condition and structure of the groundlayer vegetation; enhancement of habitat for fauna that depend on the groundlayer; improvement in extent and condition of riparian zones; and establishment of connectivity for wildlife using boundary plantings.” 

“It gives us hope to see collaborations such as RGI which bring diverse stakeholders together to plan and achieve better conservation outcomes for renewable energy projects,” said Heidi McElnea, who is coordinating the consultation and production of the Guide for CPA.   

“What we’re lacking right now in the New England is relevant information which can streamline the process for planning solar farms which include improved conservation outcomes,” McElnea said. 

“We’re fortunate in the production of the Guide to be able to draw upon research and experience from elsewhere in Australia and overseas, as well as our diverse groups’ expertise in the New England. It will be exciting to have more sustainable developments underway which provide an opportunity for tracking and improving biodiversity outcomes. The potential is enormous.”

The Guide to Better Biodiversity on Solar Farms will be workshopped with stakeholder groups in late 2023 and available in print and online in early 2024. We thank the FRRR for supporting this important work.