Governments must join forces to maximise the financial benefits to regional communities of large-scale solar, wind and transmission developments, or risk major delays to the increasingly urgent transition to renewables, a new report has found.
The report, by The Australia Institute and the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney, finds renewables currently enjoy high levels of community support, but the pace and intensity of new development – such as designated Renewable Energy Zones – could change attitudes very quickly.
It says that if the rollout of these REZs and new transmission corridors are not carefully managed, with local benefits maximised, we risk creating conflict that could delay the clean energy transformation and harm energy security.
Energy security is a white hot topic in Australia at the moment, as wholesale electricity prices surge even further out of control and the Australian Energy Market Operator fights a daily battle to force fossil fuel generators on line to meet demand.
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Faced with a crisis, Australia’s brand new Labor federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said on Wednesday that “all things are on the table,” in terms of emergency levers to help bring the market back to an even keel, such as reforms to the gas supply mechanism.
But at a special meeting of state and territory energy ministers last week, convened by Bowen, it was unanimously agreed that a supercharged transition to renewables supported by firming capacity and new transmission is the best long-term fix.
With this added momentum to drive the rapid shift to renewables, the TAI-Uni Sydney report argues that now is the time for state and federal governments to set firm standards of community engagement as we pull out the stops for rapid REZ and transmission development.
“The federal government has been instantly thrust into an energy crisis, but if it works quickly with state governments to design a fair system for planning and developing REZs it will be the last energy crisis Australia ever has to face,” said Dan Cass, a co-author of the report from The Australia Institute.
“Our research is timely because the new Australian government has promised to spend $20 billion to subsidise 10,000km of new transmission lines and spur the development of REZs, in addition to huge private investment in generation and storage,” he added.
The report recommends a number of key measures it says governments should push for as standard in REZ implementation schemes that will help ensure continued community support for renewable energy.
The first recommendation is to increase financial benefits for local communities that are hosting major new renewable energy or transmission projects, including ensuring that funds directed to the communities go further than sprucing up a few local parks or sporting venues.
“Benefit sharing requirements and developer contributions to local government should be defined within the broader economic planning framework of REZs, with guidelines that promote transparency and certainty as well as sustained growth and social equity objectives,” the report says.
And it suggests creating a mechanism through which host communities and councils can better pool the community funds they receive from individual renewable energy initiatives, to seize the opportunity for more significant investment projects that may better serve the wider community.
“We support proposals to aggregate at least part of community funds within each REZ to create substantial resources that could be leveraged with government funding to create significant assets or programs contributing to long-term economic growth and social sustainability,” the report says.
The second key recommendation is for stronger processes for culturally appropriate consultation and inclusion of Traditional Owners and other Aboriginal residents in all aspects of renewable energy development, including a more robust protection of lands and cultural heritage.
“Engagement of Indigenous specialists to undertake consultation with Aboriginal residents and organisations should be a requirement of all phases of project developments,” the report says.
A third recommendation seeks to address the negative impacts of REZ development, which the report notes that for projects of this size are unavoidable, even for those who are generally supportive of the transition to renewables.
Still, the report says the cumulative effect of these negative impacts can be minimised with careful spatial planning and scheduling of construction.
Finally, the report recommends a multi-sectoral approach by governments and developers to enhance the longer-term economic benefits of projects to communities – including skills retention.
“We have to make sure the communities that are providing us with the path to clean energy security are also communities that are benefiting fairly from the change,” said ANU’s Dr Rebecca Pearse, another co-author of the report.
“In many instances regional communities are benefiting greatly from new renewable energy projects, like farmers being paid to host solar farms on otherwise unproductive paddocks.
“But there have also been instances where communities have been disrupted by things like transmission lines being built across private land.
“Regional Australia is doing the country a terrific service by hosting our shift to renewable energy, so we need to make sure those communities have the mechanisms to negotiate beneficial deals for themselves,” Pearse said.
“This report highlights that the shift from coal to renewables is also a spatial shift that brings many physical and social changes to regional communities,” said fellow co-author, University of Sydney Emeritus Professor Linda Connor.
“This infrastructure is urgently needed for energy security and to reach zero emissions electricity, but we need to ensure it creates value for hosts. An unprecedented level of community participation, social impact assessment, and sustained local benefits is required.”
