Frequently Asked Questions: Community Benefits Guideline

The Guideline provides a clear framework for effective community benefit arrangements for eligible grid-connected wind, solar, and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS). By using this Guideline, renewable energy developers, Local Government Authorities (LGAs), and community groups can ensure that benefits are fair, transparent, and consistent, supporting local priorities and aligned to local needs and values.

Benefits spending will be directed by impacted communities to deliver against local priorities defined by the community. 

Regional Development Commissions (RDCs) will take on an administrative role, acting as fund ‘custodians’. This will help make sure that funds are managed transparently and enhance governance. The process will promote operational efficiencies, consistency, transparency, and reduce resource impacts as much as possible.

To ensure community benefits expenditure is locally led, the Guideline outlines that funds should be directed by Community Benefits Plans. These are strategic roadmaps for benefits spending - they outline local priorities and how the community will spend benefits funds to support these priorities.

Importantly, the Guideline sets out that Community Benefit Plans should always be developed collaboratively by community members, including representation from local government, local Aboriginal Groups, and other local groups to ensure the process and Community Benefit Plans reflect local priorities and needs.

No. The Guideline is not retrospective - it does not apply to projects that are already operational. However, developers with existing progressed projects are encouraged to align their current arrangements with the Guideline’s principles where possible. Grid-connected projects within the SWIS footprint that are currently in development are expected to align with the Guideline in full.

While the Guideline outlines best practice processes for developing strong and effective benefits arrangements, it is not mandated - meaning adherence to the Guideline is voluntary. However, the State Government is considering linking eligibility for certain State incentives and support programs to a developer’s alignment with the Guideline to promote its application. 

Furthermore, eligibility for the Federal Government’s Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) - one of the key Commonwealth supports for new renewable projects - requires projects to show evidence of community shared benefits, including evidence that commitments reflect local priorities. This means that projects seeking to participate in the CIS are incentivised to adhere to the Guideline.

To assist communities in implementing the Guideline, PoweringWA will engage an independent organisation to facilitate the delivery of a Community Benefits Plan Pilot Program (the Pilot). 

As part of the first stage of the Guideline rollout, the Pilot will work with selected communities to develop Community Benefits Plans tailored to their local priorities. These developed Community Benefit Plans will also inform the creation of the tools, resources and templates needed to support broader adoption of the Community Benefit Plan model and the Guideline. 

The Pilot will focus on two areas of investigation on the SWIS: the Central Coast area including the Shires of Dandaragan and Victoria Plains, and the Southern Wheatbelt area including the Shires of Narrogin and West Arthur. 

The Pilot is scheduled to go live in 2026. PoweringWA is currently finalising the scope and identifying delivery partners with experience in regional engagement and the energy sector. Any lessons learned will be used to refine the Community Benefits Plan model. Learnings will also be used to create free material - for example, templates for agreements with developers and information around best practise governance arrangements - that will be distributed to LGAs and communities to support them when they come to developing their own Community Benefits Plans. 

The Pilot process will determine how community benefit funds should be distributed when several LGAs host the infrastructure. It is important that the varying needs across the SWIS are considered, to ensure that any approach is fit for purpose across different communities and regions.

Yes. WA is a vast and diverse state - PoweringWA recognises that off-grid and projects in the North West Interconnected System (NWIS) face unique geographical and commercial challenges. Similarly, it recognises that communities in regions outside the SWIS will deal with different circumstances, and have different needs and priorities, than those within the SWIS footprint. Given this, PoweringWA will begin a dedicated public consultation process later this year. This will ensure the Guideline is adapted to be fit-for-purpose for projects outside of the SWIS.