Local Government NSW President, Darcy Byrne, has welcomed the Clean Energy Council’s call for the creation of a national Renewable Resources Payment scheme.
The proposal, announced yesterday at the Australian Clean Energy Summit by CEO, Jackie Trad, would see a national scheme established to require standard payments to councils from all renewable energy projects in the regional communities hosting infrastructure.
“The fundamental problem this industry has is trust. We do not have enough of it in the places where we build: regional and rural Australia,” Ms Trad told the Summit.
Under the proposal, every megawatt-hour of renewable electricity would attract a legislated payment, paid directly to the local councils hosting the infrastructure for the life of the project. Ms Trad said the national scheme would replace the current “patchwork” of community benefit funds, grants and negotiated payments with a permanent, transparent system, built on the same principle applied to Australia’s coal and gas industries.
“Scrap the patchwork. Replace it with something simple, permanent and public, the same way coal and gas pay royalties,” Ms Trad said.
“Regional Australia is being asked to host the machinery of our energy security. The least we can do is make sure the towns that host it share squarely in the wealth it creates.
“A mayor knows whether the town needs a pool, a childcare centre, doctor’s rooms or a decent road. And if the money is spent badly, there is a reckoning every four years at the ballot box.”
Ms Trad said the detail of the scheme, including the rate and implementation, would be developed in consultation with stakeholders and regional communities.
President Byrne said a national payment scheme would help build trust, strengthen local support and ensure rural and regional areas share in the value created by these projects.
“It’s not every day you see an industry proposing a royalty on itself, but this is the right call to build trust and confidence in the renewables sector,” he said.
“Regional councils are used to getting left behind by big agencies and utilities, so locking in a simple system of financial contributions directly paid to local government would help overcome the cynicism that they are feeling about the renewables roll out.”
He said the transition to renewable energy and the development of renewable energy infrastructure networks was an important sustainability issue currently facing rural and regional local governments and their communities.
“Nearly 200 renewable energy projects are currently progressing through the NSW planning system.”
“The cumulative impact of this rapid development is significantly affecting the local labour market, housing, infrastructure, water, essential services, emergency response and transport routes.
“At the same time, councils recognise that transition presents opportunities through economic diversification, investment and creation of highly skilled, well-paid jobs.
“Getting this right will help shape the long-term prosperity and wellbeing of communities across NSW, particularly within and around the state’s five Renewable Energy Zones.”
