Australia's shift to clean energy is reshaping the country's landscape, yet communities hosting renewable projects are often consulted rather than brought in as genuine partners. Community Power Agency today released Power in Partnership: A guide to developing a community stake in renewable energy, a new resource designed to help shift the dial from community consultation to genuine community partnerships and financial participation.
The Guide draws on 18 months of research and collaboration with renewable energy developers, local and state government stakeholders, advocacy organisations and community members.
It responds to a growing recognition that Australia's shift to renewable energy must move beyond consultation and towards genuine partnership with host communities if people are to have a real say in projects, share in the benefits, and avoid unnecessary conflict. While there has been increasing focus on improving community engagement practices, many renewable projects still rely primarily on information-sharing and benefit funds rather than bringing communities into the fold and providing pathways for them to have a real stake in projects.
Lead author Dr Anna Berka says communities deserve more than to be informed about renewable energy projects - they should also have the opportunity to directly participate and shape projects so that they can deliver on priority community needs.
"The shift to renewable energy represents a major change for many regional communities. For it to succeed, communities need meaningful opportunities to shape the decisions that affect them and to share in the benefits."
Community partnerships offer a different approach. Models such as co-ownership or co-investment give communities a real say and a real stake in renewable energy projects. Compared to one-off benefit funds, these models can create long-term income streams and bring communities into the decision-making process, helping turn projects into shared local assets.
The Guide brings together emerging case studies from Australia alongside international examples where shared ownership models are well established. In Denmark, community co-ownership of wind energy isn't a pilot program, it's policy. The same is true across the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States and the Netherlands. Australia is yet to catch up.
Dr Berka said Australia is now at an important moment in the shift to renewables.
"Unlike some other countries, Australia has done little to enable communities to participate meaningfully in the renewable energy rollout. Given the scale of additional renewable capacity needed to 2030, now is the time."
"The shift to renewable energy is happening at scale in regional Australia. Done well, community partnership models can deliver significant regional development benefits, strengthen local economies and build the social support needed to transform our energy system."
The Guide, supported by Energy Consumers Australia, provides a practical roadmap for developers, investors, governments and communities seeking to embed partnership models into renewable energy projects, helping ensure projects not only deliver clean power, but stronger regional economies and fairer outcomes for the communities hosting this infrastructure.
Justin Whelan, Manager Consumer Advocacy at Energy Consumers Australia, said,
"There is growing awareness that good community engagement means taking real steps to work with local communities on how energy projects can work for them, as well as the developer.
"Approaches like community co-ownership and co-investment can help turn engagement into genuine partnership, giving communities a meaningful stake in renewable energy projects and a share in the benefits.
"We are therefore delighted to support this important new guide from Community Power Agency, which showcases practical examples of how these partnership models are being developed in Australia and overseas."
