Community benefits as a % of project revenue, and with a floor price safety net

The Scottish Community Coalition on Energy is recommending that community benefits contributions should be calculated as a percentage of the project revenue, with an index-linked per MW/year floor price as a safety net. The floor price should be index linked from 2010 – in which case the £5000/MW/year set then would now represent between £7795 and £9362/MW/yr (depending on the inflation index used) not the £6000 suggested in the working paper.

Linking community benefits to revenue is the fairest for both developers and communities. For developers, it would mean that if generation and revenue is low one year, they do not have to pay as much to communities, as long as the floor is met. This is already standard practice for land rental payments for renewables, so there should be no practical reason why it could not be the same for community benefits.