The Winterbourne Wind Community Benefit Fund has been set up as an agreement (Voluntary Planning Agreement) between the Walcha Council and Winterbourne Wind Proprietary Limited (WWPL).
This Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) has been put on exhibition by the Council and is open for community feedback until 5pm Friday 7 June, along with the Draft Renewable Energy Community Benefit Policy.
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This VPA will be a point of discussion at next weeks (Monday and Wednesday) Regional meetings being conducted at various locations by Walcha Council.
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Council have also put a Draft Renewable Energy Policy (to guide the Community Benefit Funds from future projects) on exhibition to be commented on in the same time frame.
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COUNCIL REGIONAL MEETINGS
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Monday, 13 May
Europambela Shearers Quarters 11.30am
Ingleba Hall 2.30pm
Woolbrook Memorial Hall 5.00pm
Wednesday, 15th May
Yarrowitch Hall 10.00am
Nowendoc Hall 2.00pm
Walcha Bowling Club 6.00pm
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These are some of the points we have noted from the agreements ....
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Draft Renewable Energy Community Benefit Policy
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This has been designed so future developers can shape their Community Benefit Funds around what Council and the community see as beneficial to the community. It is only 2½ pages and is relatively easy to read.
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Upfront Payment of Community Benefits
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This policy does not make any reference to the structure of the payments of any future fund. The draft Winterbourne Wind Benefit fund has been structured as an annual payment. To enable these funds to be used on worthwhile, intergenerational projects, this fund needs to be paid in full up-front. There are a number of reasons for this:
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- Security – We do not want to rely on an annual payment. There is no guarantee from 1 year to the next that this payment will be received. We cannot guarantee that the project will not become insolvent or the owner refuse to pay the benefit.
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- Confidence for long-term community projects. If the fund is paid up-front, Council can be confident to invest in long-term projects, knowing the funds to cover ongoing operational costs are secured.
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- It is not an unreasonable request – this Community benefit fund is not a big expense for these developers of multi-billion-dollar projects. If a developer is unwilling or unable to offer an upfront payment, that is a red flag signalling their lack of intent to support the community, or the financial ability of the entity in question to do so.
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- An up-front payment, that can be invested in an investment account, can provide a secure and ongoing annuity, that can support a legacy project such as the ongoing staffing and operation of the Riverview aged care facility, for example. This is not possible if relying on an unsecured annual payment agreement.
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It would seem reasonable to ask for $25 000-$30 000 per MW (indexed from 2024) of the proposed project paid on financial close of the project.
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Part Payment of this Fund at Scoping and EIS Submission
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Council could ask for $100 000 (non-refundable) to be paid to Council at the time of submission of the Scoping Report and $200 000 when the EIS is submitted. This would allow council to investigate the projects and prepare VPAs, traffic reports, impact assessments impacting Council resources. We have seen from the Winterbourne project that it is not a fair process when an under-resourced Council is negotiating with a highly resourced multi-national corporation.
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This could be deducted from the over-all fund.
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Winterbourne Wind Draft Voluntary Planning Agreement
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This is 20 pages long and is not an easy read!
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These are some of the points.
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1. Why is Council negotiating with Vestas?
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Vestas have refused to hold meaningful engagement with the Walcha community. They have misled the community in statements they have made. They have presented an incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading EIS. They have not even provided financial support for Walcha in preparing this VPA. Is this a company we want to welcome to Walcha to develop a $2billion plus project? Is this a company we can trust to pay an annual fee? Until we have all the information about this project, do Council really want to give the project the green light from them?
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2. Up-front payments would be secure, but an annual payment plan?
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- Security – We don’t want to rely on an annual payment. There is no guarantee from 1 year to the next that this payment will be received. We do not know who will own this project in the next few months, let alone 25 years. We cannot guarantee that the project will not become insolvent or the owner refuse to pay the benefit.
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- Confidence for long-term projects – Based on discussions in the extraordinary council meeting (7th May 2024) Council (rightly) will not have confidence to invest in any projects that have ongoing operational costs that will need to be taken on by the council. If the payment is paid as an up-front payment, Council can invest this money and be confident of the ongoing revenue. What worthwhile projects will be funded by this fund under the current terms. If netball courts (as suggested by Councillor Reilly) cannot be funded because of the ongoing operational costs, it is hard to think of any worthwhile intergenerational projects that can be funded.
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- It is not an unreasonable request – WWPL is building a project costing over $2billion. They are looking at paying $64million up-front in biodiversity credits. They can afford to pay the community benefit fund as an upfront payment.
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An upfront payment of $17million (1/2 of what Winterbourne Wind are claiming to be offering) would be a significantly better and safer benefit for the Walcha community than annual payments of $750 000.
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- An up-front payment, that can be held in an investment account, can provide a secure and ongoing annuity, that can support a legacy project such as the ongoing staffing and operation of the Riverview aged care facility, for example. This is not possible if relying on an unsecured annual payment agreement.
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3. Council should not sign any VPA unless the project has a satisfactory decommissioning plan and bond.
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Council’s greatest risk is a failure for WWPL to decommission and rehabilitate the country they are leasing. Unless the Council and community have this assurance, through a decommissioning plan and an agreed bond amount and structure, Council should not negotiate with WWPL.
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4. Proper definitions for start and end dates for payments.
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We do not know from this agreement when the initial payment is, when the operational payments begin, or when the payments end.
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5. Who is the current owner of the project and who will be signing this agreement.
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Do Council know who owns this project currently and their intentions? Latest information from WWPL in a FAQ brochure distributed at the Walcha Show, is that Winterbourne Wind Pty Ltd is majority owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure IV. Who are Copenhagen Infrastructure IV and do they have the assets to guarantee payment of this benefit?
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6. Honesty in Advertising
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This is not a $35million fund as WWPL keep advertising.
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Can we please stop them circulating this misinformation.
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Please, make submissions to the Winterbourne VPA and Renewable Energy Community Benefit Policy and get along to the meetings on Monday and Wednesday and ask your question to the Councillors and GM.
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