Helen Haines says regional communities should profit from renewable energy

Independent MP Helen Haines has unveiled a bold plan she argues could be a win-win for renewable energy and regional towns. Here’s what she proposes.

Independent Member for Indi Helen Haines wants regional communities to share in the profits from renewable energy projects.

REGIONAL communities would share in a slice of the profits from new renewable energy projects in their towns, under a new plan put forward by independent MP Helen Haines.

Dr Haines will table a bill in parliament today that aims to help communities build renewable energy projects or partner with commercial developers, and directly benefit from any revenue made.

“The idea (behind the Bill) is simple: every electron generated in the regions should be money coming back into the pockets of everyday regional people,” Dr Haines said.

“Every spin of a wind turbine and every drop of sunlight should be generating income that stays in our communities.”

It comes amid a growing battle in Canberra about the role of regional Australia in the nation’s energy and climate policy. Nationals backbenchers last week launched a bid to allow the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage, following calls for agriculture to be excluded from any net-zero emissions targets.

Under Dr Haines’ Australia Local Power Agency Act, to be seconded by fellow independent Zali Steggall, developers would have to offer 20 per cent of the value of new renewable energy projects for local residents to invest in.

Dr Haines said a similar system operated in Germany, enabling farmers to own 10 per cent of renewables and locals 30 per cent.

“If we had a system like that in Australia, that would be billions of dollars flowing straight into the pockets of people in regional Australia every year,” she said. 

The bill would also allow the Federal Government to underwrite majority community-owned renewable projects.

Dr Haines’ North East Victorian electorate on Indi includes the town of Yackandandah, where residents are aiming for the entire town to run on renewables by 2022, including a “mini-grid” to allow community members to store and share excess power.

She said while renewables were being developed at a rapid pace in the regions, few communities were able to take advantage of the full economic benefits that could present.

Dr Haines hoped her plan could break the deadlock on how renewables are funded.

“We need to capture that investment boom – that is already raining down around us – to create a local renewables workforce, build up hundreds of small businesses that service this industry, and make sure that locals get to invest in these projects too,” she said.

“But sadly, this opportunity is slipping through our fingers because too many regional politicians in this place spend their time fighting the renewable tide instead of harnessing it”.