What has to be done better to show the benefits of renewables in the regions.
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Australia’s renewable energy transition will succeed only if it delivers lasting benefits to the regional communities that host it.
Organised opposition to renewable energy in the regions where projects are being built is well known. The reasons for opposition vary from legitimate concerns around project siting and biodiversity, through to confected claims about “wind turbine syndrome”. And while the media often focuses excessively on the loud opponents, there is a portion of people in the middle who are feeling increasingly sceptical; there is an underlying concern that regions will bear the impacts of a fly-in, fly-out construction boom with modest lasting benefits.[1]
A common sentiment in regional host communities is ‘ we don’t want a sugar hit – we want to see a lasting legacy.’ Echoing these sentiments, community renewables groups have advocated for a shift from ‘social licence’ to ‘social value’ – from obtaining the minimum community acceptance for planning approval to focusing on how the renewables sector can improve these regions.[2][3]
Some of the ways the sector can deliver benefits for the regions include: community benefit funds and initiatives that significantly improve local infrastructure and services in the long-term; local job creation and training, especially for young people, and economic activity for local businesses; Improvements for First Nations communities – Indigenous population shares are higher on average in the Renewable Energy Zones (REZ); and regulatory and policy reforms, and further technology developments and solutions to integrate renewables into local land-uses to minimise impacts on agriculture, biodiversity and landscapes
So, how is the renewable energy sector performing in the regions?
Community benefits: from sporting club grants to community infrastructure
Community benefit funds – an annual allocation of funds from a developer for community groups and initiatives where projects are located – are now a standard feature of renewable energy projects. Historically, industry practice was to administer small grants scattered across local organisations such as sporting clubs – welcome, no doubt but not creating long-term change.
The Clean Energy Council forecasts that the community benefit funds flowing from renewables into regional communities will be $213 million by 2030, increasing to $1.9 billion by 2050. Recognising the enormous potential to create transformative change in regions – there have been shifts in government policy in NSW , Queensland and Victoria to pool community benefit funds to enable investments in bigger projects that will support regional development.[4][5][6][7]
Local employment and training
Employment modelling has found the renewable energy build-out could create tens of thousands of jobs, mostly in the regions, with most employment occurring during construction. How much of this employment will be local is uncertain as the sector does move staff around between projects. In a survey of developers in the New England REZ, the industry expectation was that 28% of jobs would be sourced with locals. Renewables also provide an opportunity to train locals in trades such as electricians, increasing the skill base of the region beyond the life of the project. Over time employment increases in the operations and maintenance of renewable energy infrastructure, especially wind farms.[8][9]
Procurement policy is improving and employment and training criteria are now included in many renewable energy auctions, where projects bid for contracts. Projects make contract commitments to implement local employment and training initiatives. In NSW, developers in Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) also pay a levy to fund local employment and training initiatives.
Unfortunately, data is currently limited on the results from these tenders. The NSW Government released a report in 2025 summarising results so far for its tenders but only 2 projects had proceeded to construction, so it was too early to evaluate impact. Notwithstanding, the report found there had been a total of 279 commitments to employment and supporting industry, 152 of these had commenced, 18 had been completed and targets were being achieved, such as 27% of trades workers were apprentices against a target of 20%.[10]
While there are some good cases emerging , there is no evidence to suggest the renewables sector is as yet making a significant difference to local economies through employment. On the contrary, even amid widespread skill shortages, Infrastructure Australia noted ‘companies are adopting a cautious, ‘wait and see’ approach to workforce and skills investment, rather than committing to long-term training or efforts to boost baseline workforce supply’.[11][12]
First Nations Communities
Likewise, the delivery of benefits to First Nations communities from renewable energy has been patchy. The most promising developments are in First Nations ownership and equity stakes in renewables projects. In the Pilbara, Rio Tinto signed a power purchase agreement to buy the power from a First Nations owned solar under development and Ampyr Australia has signed an agreement with a local Indigenous group for a 5% equity stake in a battery in Wellington, NSW .[13]
The biggest change that introduced strong incentives for projects to create economic stakes for First Nations communities came with the 2026 Commonwealth Government ’s First Nation Equity and Revenue Setting Aside scheme. Under that, some of the capacity being tendered will be reserved for projects that include equity and/or revenue sharing equal to 5%.
Integrating renewable energy into local land-uses to minimise impacts on agriculture and biodiversity
Competition for land from renewable projects is creating tension with agricultural producers, and biodiversity conservation. In NSW, concerns about ‘agriculture land loss or impact’ are the most frequent reason for community objections to solar farms’ .[14]
Renewables do require significant amounts of land. Based on the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated Systems Plan , we calculated that 7,544km 2 of land would be required for wind and solar farms (2030-31) and 11,311km 2 (2049-50) – 0.15% of Australia’s land.[15]
Solar farms in particular can overlap with land valued for agriculture (including grazing), creating tension between the energy and agricultural sectors. For regional communities there may be other concerns such as the loss of land that has been held by families for generations and changes to landscapes.
There are multiple solutions to mitigate the land use pressures from renewables including improving strategic land use planning , technological developments (improved energy yields and land-use efficiency) and criteria to shape the siting of projects and the use of agrivoltaics to enable the co-location of solar panels and agricultural production. Driven by growing concerns about land use conflicts between renewable energy development and food production, the new agrivoltaics approach allows a combined approach allowing for solar panels and the growing of plants – through raised panels or space left between panels. That approach has expanded rapidly around the world in recent years, including Europe, Japan, North America , and is growing in Australia as well.[14][16][17]
What are the solutions?
So, what are some of the big moves that could drive better outcomes when it comes to demonstrating the social and economic benefits of renewables projects.
• Implement First Nations communities’ equity participation in the renewable energy sector and more done to roll out solar-battery capacity into remote communities that often have to rely on expensive, unreliable power. And increase employment rates which remain shockingly lower than for other Australians.
• Local training and employment need to be lifted for the renewable sector with investment in apprentices and trainees. The government also needs to provide the resources to achieve these targets (see the New England Skills and Training REZ study for initiatives on what could be done).[9]
• Recognise the benefits of the agrivoltaics approach in the planning system, and fund demonstration projects and create incentives for projects to adopt agrivoltaics practices could increase adoption .[18]
Australia has taken some important steps towards creating ‘social value’ from renewable energy in regional Australia, but much more needs to be done to ensure we don’t miss the opportunity for renewable energy to make a real difference in the regions that will be hosting them for decades to come.
Chris Briggs, Saori Miyake and Elianor Gerrard, Energy Futures Research Centre, UTS university, Sydney, Australia.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info .[19][20]