The Clean Energy Council has called for the creation of a national scheme that would set a “single, legislated rate” for payments made to the local governments of regional communities hosting large-scale wind, solar and battery projects.
CEC chief Jackie Trad announced the proposed Renewable Resources Payment scheme at the Clean Energy Summit in Sydney on Tuesday morning, as a way to provide a permanent funding stream for communities hosting Australia’s clean energy infrastructure.
Under the proposal, local councils hosting the projects would receive the payments and determine how they are spent, recognising they are best placed to understand the priorities of their communities.
Trad says the national scheme would replace the “patchwork of community benefit funds, grants and negotiated payments,” removing confusion and rebuilding trust.
“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,” Trad told the summit in Sydney.
