New England councils sign letter of demand for green energy 'future fund' in renewable energy zone

Armidale mayor Sam Coupland said he was sick of solar and wind companies paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars in 'community benefit funds' in penny packets with little lasting benefit.

The current plan is for state government organ EnergyCo to control and distribute funds raised through grid connection charges for the benefit of the local community.

"That's just not acceptable to us," Cr Coupland said.

"This really is the threshold issue. Unless that community contribution fee is done the way that we require it to be done, I will do all I can from an Armidale perspective, to make sure the REZ does not go ahead.

"The way that it's currently being proposed, it's just throwing loaves to the masses to keep them happy. It's not genuine region building."

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Last month, Cr Coupland was one of five New England mayors to sign up to a letter laying out their "expectations" for the $10.7 billion New England Renewable Energy Zone.

The document contains three "essential" demands - that the community contribution fee be paid into "a common fund established and solely managed by the individual councils", a bond to be paid to finance decommissioning of the power project, and a commitment to hire local and consult councils and others on site selection for projects.

Glen Innes Mayor Rob Banham said the local councils had decided to back the 8,000 megawatts expansion of renewables, but they wanted to make sure it was done in a way that would benefit the local community.

Each council's future fund could wind up worth multi-millions, money that could be invested in revenue-generating investments like commercial or residential real estate, he said.

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"If it's $500,000 per project, that'd be great," he said.

"If you get five projects across a region and then the councils are holding $2.5 million of funds or more, that's great. What a great safety net to have for the region, it's fantastic."

Cr Coupland said the essential issue is the future fund.

He said the group was aiming to clear up "a real nervousness within the community" about the major build-out of renewable energy.

"Having been on council, it really highlighted, how little, in its current structure, how little ongoing benefit there was going to be, for the community," he said.

"Yet we would have significant financial and social burdens coming from it. That was the impetus [for the letter]."

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Another three demands labelled "desirable" include: funding to expand mobile phone tower coverage to eliminate remote black spots; a requirement that developers buy any carbon offsets locally; and that they be required to offer councils a power purchase agreement.

The Glen Innes Severn, Inverell, Uralla, Walcha and Armidale Regional councils signed up to the "REZ statement of expectations", which was delivered to Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall last month.

A spokesperson for the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said the state government and EnergyCo to "continue to engage" with local councils about how the fund should be allocated to best support the region.

He said renewable energy projects are regulated through the development assessment process, which includes consideration of decommissioning and rehabilitation requirements.

"The New England REZ was formally declared in December 2021, and will take a number of years to design and build," he said.

Renewable energy companies typically pay out money in scores of small donations to community groups, sporting teams and charities in what are known as community benefit funds.

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