1. Community Engagement - Scottish experience
Chris Morris, Local Energy Scotland

2. This is the Laid Inn pub – A84 just past Callandar – sells really good real ales.
Frank the landlord and a few regulars were complaining about the weather – rains a lot and there is a massive river catchment. They talked about it being great if they could use this resource on their door step.
Several years later – after a massive amount of hard work by the community, a great project team, lots of Development Officer support and development funding through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme they now own a 425kW hydro scheme.
They’ll generate electricity for decades and the profits will be invested to benefit their local community. NEXT slide
I’m Chris Morris and I lead the team at Local Energy Scotland. We deliver the Scottish CommunityARES that helps local communities develop, partner in or benefit from renewable energy projects that use their resources.

3. About us
I’m Chris Morris and I lead the team at Local Energy Scotland. We deliver the Scottish CommunityARES that helps local communities
develop,
partner in
or benefit from renewable energy projects that use their resources.

4. from externally owned projects
100%
LOCALLY
OWNED
SHARED OWNERSHIP
COMMUNITY BENEFIT
from externally owned projects
£100k/ MW £5k/MW
Increasing/MW financial return to community
Increasing community risk and responsibility
WE ofeten think about community involvement in RE aa pyramid – CO at top
TODAY

5. Scottish context
20 mins – Thanks for inviting me to share my perspective – IT IS MINE rather SGs
Scottish context – RE development and policy
Approach and learnings from Scotland
IWEA proposal

6. Renewable electricity in Scotland
2008 – 2017 – massive increase – driven by supportive Scottish policies – ambitious targets- and UK subsidies

7. Scottish gross electricity consumption and % renewable output
Grey shows RE output as proportion of gross elec consumption
RO and FiT less than 5MW

8. Wind energy in Scotland
As of October 2017, Scotland had 460 onshore wind developments:
65 planning applications (2650 MW)
79 projects awaiting construction (2511 MW)
53 projects under construction (1667 MW), and
281 projects currently operational (6556 MW).

9. Policy Climate change ACT
Policy historically focused on electricity
Energy Policy reserved to UK (2015..)
Scottish Energy Strategy
2030 target:
-50% of energy (heat, transport and power) from RE
Onshore wind policy statement
Community Empowerment Act
Climate change ACT
Historica – electivcity (power) focused – UK subsidies – onshore wind dev (some hydro) Lab then Con/Lib Colaition ended 2015
Energy Strategy (6 mnths)
driven by long term climate change targets
three principles – whole system, smarter local energy model (digitisation, local use etc) and an inclusive transition (oil & gas, stable and secure).
Targets – half of Scottish energy from RE – great progress on power – huge amount from heat/transport – lead to increae elec
Omshore wind policy statement that sets out ambitions for the sector inlcuing repowering and community benefit and shared onwership.
Community empowerment agenda – land reform, enagement etc

10. Community engagement, Community benefits, Shared Ownership

11. Community engagement
Review of community engagement good practice by ClimateXChange. Recommended:
Wide-ranging and innovative methods of engagement;
Methods which facilitate dialogue (rather than just transmitting information);
Action is taken on the basis of responses gathered;
Measures to keep engagement going through all stages including approval and construction;
Using a wide ranging definition of an 'affected' public; and
Identifying and implementing tangible benefits.
Nation Standards of Community Engagement
VOiCE (Visioning Outcomes in Community Engagement)

12. Community Benefit Scottish Government no powers to oblige.
Good Practice Principles for community benefit
Developed with industry
were adopted in April 2014.
£5k/MW for operational lifetime
Not linked to planning
Encourages early engagement
Publically available register of community benefits
Shares best practice
GPPs are being reviewed

13. Community benefit – Good Practice
NOT SO WELL
Voluntary vs legal commitment once established
Sale of wind farms (in some cases)
Communities managing multiple CB funds
Long pipeline - GPP mentioned for all non operational projects but Developers linked to planning consents
Some communities need help to investment ready
WORKED WELL
Local impact.
Bought transparency.
Allowed industry to quantify and celebrate impact.
Helped communities engage as equals.
Potential legacy impact when linked to community action planning and engagement
Intermediators for fund Governance
Forestry commission
WORKED WELL
Local impact.
Bought transparency.
Allowed industry to quantify and celebrate impact.
Helped communities engage as equals.
When linked to community action plans
Intermediators for fund Governance
FS – mandidated at start and set ball rolling
NOT SO WELL
Voluntary (planning) vs but once established should be legal commitment – always voluntary (either commit or not)
Sale of wind farms (in some cases) – rare cases commuitied finding out when payments stop
Communities managing multiple CB funds
Pipeline - GPP mentioned for all non operational projects but linked to planning consent by Developers
Some communities need help to investment ready – not enough focus on this

14. Responding to challenges
Toolkits – set-up & governance
Community engagement framework
Community action plans
CARES Support
Value community benefits
Built expertise and have committed staff
Flexible
Developers .
Reviewing the good practice principles
Community want clarity as to benefit and developers want flexibility.
Changing market

15. Shared Ownership
Good Practice Guidance for Shared Ownership of Onshore Renewable Energy Developments.
Net economic benefits arising from shared ownership - Scottish Planning policy.
Target – at least half of newly consented project have an element of SO by 2020
Contributes towards 1GW/2GW community and locally owned targets
In 2015 published “Good Practice Guidance for Shared Ownership
of Onshore Renewable Energy Developments”.
November 2015, the Chief Planner issued a letter to Heads of Planning Scotland, highlighting the relation of shared ownership to net economic benefits in Scottish Planning policy.
Shared ownership will play a key part in helping to meet our targets of 1GW of
community and locally owned energy by 2020 and 2 GW by We expect
community involvement in onshore wind developments to continue to play a vital role
in reaching these targets.
Community schemes and those with a minimum element of shared
ownership are eligible for non-domestic rates relief.

16. Shared ownership – good practice
WORKED WELL
Created a pipeline of opportunities.
Changes relationship to partnership
Some communities have actively support projects.
Good examples - smaller
Developers have/are innovating with structures
Peer support
Support through CARES to access advice and funding
Resources on website
NOT SO WELL
Link to planning and NEB – early commitment
Focused of structures rather than terms.
‘Investment ready’ local capacity.
Multiple projects in planning
Market conditions
Timings with investment decisions
Sturcture rather than terms
JV, Shared revenue, split ownership
Terms of investment – principle for valuation,

17. Responding to challenges
Funding and toolkit
Finance, legal frameworks
Dedicated specialist and commercial support
CARES Support
Looking at different models
Actively engaging – events and capacity building
Some – favourable terms
Developers .
Reviewing the good practice principles
Profitability: Dividend – cost of finance = community surplus?
Changing market

18. the IWEA 2018 commitments on Community Engagement

19. Observations Driven by industry Support mechanism in place is key
Engagement
Early dialog with the community is essential
Managing CLO staff changes
Community benefit
2 euro/MW +’ve to share risk and relevance for different technologies but not as easy to communicate
Big opportunity - need to consider community readiness and capacity, maximizing impact and legacy
Shared ownership
Approach less clear but lots to learn build on
Independent support needed
Timing for investment and terms
Communities can acheive amazing things

20. Further info… chris.morris@localenergy.scot www.localenergy.scot