The Clean Energy Council wants a national "Renewable Resources Payment" scheme that would send a legislated payment, for every megawatt-hour generated, straight to the local councils hosting wind, solar and battery projects.
Announcing the proposal at the Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney last week, the council’s chief executive officer Jackie Trad said the industry's real problem was no longer proving the case for renewables, but earning trust in the towns where projects are built.
"The fundamental problem this industry has is trust. We do not have enough of it in the places where we build," Ms Trad said.
The scheme would replace the current mix of community benefit funds, grants and one-off deals with a permanent, transparent payment, modelled on the royalties paid by coal and gas.
Councils, not the industry, would decide how funds are spent locally.
Ms Trad pointed to Queensland's Isaac Regional Council, where direct council payments had improved a previously strained relationship with the resources sector, as the model behind the idea.
The CEC said the payment rate and rollout details would be worked through with industry and regional communities.
