Wind farms: How can local communities benefit?

The Energy Bill announced in the Queen's Speech is sure to ignite intense debate about nuclear power, costs to consumers and the prospects for renewable energy development.

But another agenda that's been simmering away for 20 years is now coming to a head – how can massive investment in energy infrastructure be delivered in ways that benefit the communities affected?

The community dimension has been the 'Achilles Heel' of British renewable energy policy. While the roll-out of wind power in Denmark and Germany benefited from the widespread participation of local cooperatives and farmers, British projects are typically large, commercial, mostly benefit distant shareholders and encounter local disquiet. It seems unlikely that the Energy Bill will change that.

For this reason, the spotlight needs to shine on ways of channelling some benefits from renewable energy to affected communities, and that is what our Viewpoint for JRF – Wind energy and justice for disadvantaged communities – tries to do.

We focus on how wind farm developers have conventionally delivered benefits to local people, through the provision of community benefit funds. But our research poses three main questions:

• Why should community benefits be paid? Such benefit funds have usually been viewed by policy-makers as a way of fostering acceptance of a scheme. This rarely works. A sounder reason for community benefits, we argue, is to deliver social justice – redressing the harms caused to those communities. The justice dimension is especially important given that much wind-farm development has taken place in rural or coastal areas suffering from economic, social and environmental disadvantage.
• To what extent can the level of community benefit payments be increased? Back in the 1990s, typical community benefit payments were £1,000 per megawatt, paid annually, but the best-performing companies are now delivering much more. Our research shows that local authorities have been able to raise contributions by establishing policies that request particular levels of community benefits. In Wales, for example, the Forestry Commission has been able to extract community benefits to the tune of £1.8 million each year at the recently approved Pen-y-Cymoedd wind farm.
• How might community benefits be best invested? There is a case for helping communities invest the community benefit funds in ways that improve the area's long-term resilience. One neat example is the Stirlingshire village of Fintry, which took its community benefits in the form of ownership of a turbine in a local commercial scheme, and has ploughed back its revenue into sustainable energy measures for local housing.

We would not pretend that community benefit funds can resolve all the conflicts of a transition towards a sustainable energy system, but we do need a vigorous debate about what constitutes a fair relationship between such major projects and the communities that live with them. Improving the level and application of community benefit funds is a pragmatic and vital focus for immediate action.