The VPA for the Winterbourne Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund is on display on the Walcha Council website. Council is seeking feedback from the community and we encourage everyone to make a submission to this vital part of the Winterbourne project.
As a guide, our view of the important points are as follows;
We request Council to seek the following conditions from Winterbourne Wind Farm P/L before signing a Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) around the Community Benefit Fund (CBF).
> To ensure security of payment; and
> To give Council confidence to fund long-term worthwhile projects (eg. Funding for Riverview Aged Care)
Please add your own thoughts, and your own views.
Return your submission to Walcha Council;
via email: council@walcha.nsw.gov.au
or via Mail to: PO Box 2, Walcha 2354
The details ...
These are some of the points we have noted from the agreements ....
Draft Renewable Energy Community Benefit Policy
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.
Upfront Payment of Community Benefits
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Part Payment of this Fund at Scoping and EIS Submission
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.
This could be deducted from the over-all fund.
Winterbourne Wind Draft Voluntary Planning Agreement
This is 20 pages long and is not an easy read!
These are some of the points.
1. Why is Council negotiating with Vestas?
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?
2. Up-front payments would be secure, but an annual payment plan?
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.
- 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.
- Confidence for long-term community 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
