REGIONAL community groups, councils and industry should think bigger to maximise the benefits from the renewables boom.
“We only need to paint the town hall so many times,” said director of Community Power Agency, Kim Mallee, after the group’s release last week of a guide to regional benefit sharing.
“Energy projects bring real investment into regional areas, but without co-ordination, we risk wasting the opportunity,”  she said.
The agency says its guide is a practical blueprint for co-ordinating how community benefit sharing programs from renewable energy developments - funding and grants - are delivered to the host communities. 
“It responds to the growing reality that multiple projects are landing in the same places, often overwhelming communities with scattered, piecemeal grant programs,” she said.
“This guide is about a process for communities to lead, which can direct funds to tackle long-term challenges and create something lasting for generations to come, such as social services or community housing.”
Backers of the speculative wind farm project at Meering West have this year stepped up as major sponsors of football, netball and cricket in Boort.
And under the State Government’s proposed renewable energy zones, all Loddon communities would be within a potential REZ footprint.
“We’ve seen communities run out of local small grant ideas while facing big-picture challenges in health, housing or infrastructure,” said Community Power Agency community development project manager Claudia Hodge.
“This guide shows how pooling resources across projects, and empowering communities to manage those resources, can open up new possibilities for greater, longer-lasting outcomes.”
The agency says it has worked closely with REZ communities across Gippsland, Northern Tasmania, New England and Western Downs, and draws inspiration from international best practice, including models in Scotland that offer tiered benefit funds for small, medium and large, ‘legacy-scale’ initiatives.
“Communities are being asked to consult again and again on one project after another, and their individual benefit sharing initiatives,” said Ms Mallee.
“Strategic co-ordination helps reduce that burden, and gives people a stronger voice, whilst minimising engagement fatigue,” she said.