Community Benefits from Wind Power

Examining the scale and nature of benefits to communities hosting wind power developments

The primary objective of this study was to provide a firm evidence base of the scale and nature of benefits flowing to communities hosting wind power developments in the UK, particularly in comparison with developments elsewhere in the EU.

This study examined a series of detailed case studies of wind power projects in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Spain and Ireland with more than 10 turbines. It also undertook a questionnaire survey of all wind power developments in the UK in the last five years before the project commenced in June 2004.

The study’s particular focus was the nature and scale of benefits available to local communities and the following aspects of a wind power project were considered in the assessment:

involvement in the development process by local landowners, groups or individuals
the use of locally-manufactured content
the use of local contractors during construction
equity share or other investment opportunity for local communities
land rental to a local landowner
local community facility improvements through lump sum or ‘in kind’ contribution
revenue or profit share
energy-related benefits (principally relevant to overseas projects)
employment of local people in operation and maintenance provision
education visits and school support
visitor centres and tourist facilities
community liaison activities (meetings, information provision, talks to groups, etc.)

Comparison of the different case studies and their national policy background enabled an understanding of the influence exerted by the different economic, regulatory, planning and cultural conditions under which wind power is deployed in each country. Through this methodology, the study has produced:

a clear picture of the typical scale and nature of benefits flowing to local communities from wind power developments in the UK
a robust framework for continuing analysis of approaches to community engagement and community benefits from wind (and other renewable) projects
a reasonable basis for comparison with the scale and nature of benefits flowing to local communities from wind power developments in other EU countries with strong wind power development records
an understanding of the extent to which different or greater benefits available in other EU countries’ wind projects could be replicated here, bearing in mind economic, regulatory, planning and cultural differences (and if so, how)
an assessment of the extent to which the scale or nature of benefits offered has been a material factor in either planning consent or subsequent public acceptance
an assessment of the value of developing UK best practice guidelines on community benefit and public engagement and, if considered valuable, a proposed process for their development and adoption.

The final report was published in August 2005.

The study’s principal finding is that, in direct contrast to the UK, where community benefits typically rely on voluntary cash contributions to a community fund from the project developer, the evidence from Spain, Denmark and Germany indicates that significant local benefits are effectively built into the fabric of all wind power projects.

These routine benefits typically take the form of the local tax payments, jobs and economic benefits from regional manufacturing, and, for Denmark and Germany, opportunities for local ownership. In these leading EU countries for wind power development, which have enjoyed far higher rates of wind power development, the concept of a voluntary contribution or a community fund is unfamiliar; benefits are already accruing without the need for developers to volunteer additional payments.

Such routine provision of meaningful benefits to communities hosting wind power projects is likely to be a significant factor in sustaining public support and delivering significant rates of wind power development.

This overseas evidence points to a need to make meaningful community benefits more routine and systematic in UK wind power projects if future rates of deployment are to grow. However, much of what is done in these other countries is not directly importable.

For example, the use of permitting systems to support local manufacturing in Spain is not consistent with the UK’s strict interpretation of EU procurement rules. The dominance of Danish and German wind power industries was born out of their own historically high development activities. And UK support mechanisms for renewables have created market conditions with relatively high entry costs (and risks) making it harder for local ownership to feature.

In this context, the focus for how local communities engage with, and gain from, wind power developments in the UK has tended to be on:

the nature and openness of engagement with local communities
direct financial contributions — a community fund of some kind — and/or
opportunities for community ownership or ‘dividend’

Assuming the continuing absence of policies which will ensure other clear community benefits emerge as a matter of course (jobs, local taxes etc), it would be legitimate to focus on perfecting these approaches as ways of capturing for the local community at least some of the benefits of a wind project which in other countries would be accruing as a matter of course.

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Community Benefits from Wind Power