Utility offers neighbors a $1000 rebate on Australian wind and solar projects

An international utility company in Australia is offering an annual rebate of A$1,000 to ratepayers near its renewable energy projects, which are increasingly facing delays due to community opposition.

“Everyone wants green energy, but many people don’t want it in their backyard,” Rik de Buyserie, Australian CEO of French energy giant Engie, told the Financial Review.

Engie came up with the idea when it set out to develop a 1.9 gigawatt wind and solar project called The Plains in Hay, New South Wales (NSW). “The local community wanted direct, tangible benefits, not just the usual route of crowdfunding for local sports and facilities,” writes RenewEconomy.

The utility offered $1,000 in energy rebates to consumers adjacent to its projects who switched to Engie from another supplier.

All future Engie projects will carry this benefit, including the contested Hills of Gold wind farm planned for northern New South Wales. “The developer has reduced the number of turbines from 97 to 47 after more than 50 objections from the Not in Nundle group and is still waiting for a decision from the New South Wales Planning Commission,” writes RenewEconomy.

The discount has been extended to a wider group of payers, including all those affected by visibility disruptions or higher traffic volumes. As a result, its coverage now covers Engie customers within a radius of 20 kilometers from the project. It will be available throughout the duration of the project and is linked to the property, so future owners will still be able to receive it.

“Developers need to be at the forefront regardless of what state or federal governments do,” said Anna Hedgcock, director of portfolio development and commercial at Engie. “This is absolutely necessary if you want to deliver a good project that will be accepted by the community.”

Engie’s survey, aimed at understanding community willingness to use renewable energy sources, found that nearly half of respondents felt uncomfortable with renewable energy infrastructure in their community, the company said in a release. “The study found that closing this gap relies on education and motivational behaviors.”

As community opposition poses a challenge to other energy projects, state governments concerned about their net zero emissions targets have also poured in cash to drum up community support, writes the Financial Review.

A few years ago, the New South Wales government offered to pay private landowners $200,000 for every kilometer of their land on which large infrastructure projects are carried out, following protests by farmers affected by the Hume Link transmission line, which connects the hydropower project to the national grid.

“The attitude is changing, but then you will see another challenge in terms of broadcasting,” de Buyserie said.

“Australia needs 10,000 kilometers of new transmission lines to meet its targets, and many people don’t want them in their backyard, given their impact is much greater than a solar panel or a wind turbine.”