Community investment in local wind farms, for example EDF Renewables’ Clash Gour wind farm, will have a number of direct and indirect benefits for the community of Moray.
First of all, community investment will help to retain some of the profit a wind farm makes within Moray. This will happen in two ways:
- Interest paid to local members will contribute to the local economy through generating income for local people to spend in local businesses, invest in local projects etc.
- And any surplus funds made by CEM, over and above our running costs, will be used to support ventures, in line with our aims, in the local area.
We don’t yet have a full picture of the value of these community benefits – we will only have that when an offer and business plan are on the table from the wind farm operator(s), and we are continuing to liaise with EDF around their Clash Gour wind farm. But we can make a guess about the first of them. If say £1 million is invested by residents of Moray, then at an annual interest rate of 4% this would add £40,000 to the local economy each year.
There are also various indirect potential benefits for the local community:
- Forming a community entity for shared ownership in renewable energy projects such as Community Energy Moray is a powerful model for local sustainable and inclusive growth and can act as a catalyst to enhancing the abilities, skills and resources of community members and organisations when they actively participate in projects.
- Social benefits can include:
- community empowerment
- renewable energy education, including increased awareness and understanding of renewable energy and its benefits
- enhanced community cohesion through working together towards common sustainability and economic goals.
The work of CEM is also helping to develop innovative approaches to community shares in major renewable energy developments:
- The current plan for community investment in the Clash Gour wind farm is unique in Scotland – the learnings from it could place Moray at the forefront of developing approaches to community shares.
- CEM itself is (as far as we know) unique in Scotland as a community-led body for a whole council area. As large-scale renewable energy systems develop both onshore and offshore there may be growing interest in how this can work in other parts of Scotland.
- As part of the Energy4All family of co-operatives, as well as enjoying the support of this network, we will also be able to play our part in the UK-wide development of community owned renewables.
All of this will be informed by the seven Co-operative Principles originally compiled by the Rochdale Pioneers 1844. These are:
- Voluntary and open membership
- Democratic member control
- Members’ economic participation
- Autonomy and independence
- Education, training, and information
- Cooperation among cooperatives
- Concern for community.