Community Projects and Benefit Funds - RESS

The community commitments in the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) seek to support sustainable community energy projects, particularly in rural Ireland, delivering on national policy goals of climate action, rural regeneration, social cohesion, capacity-building and community development as well as ensuring that local communities benefit from RESS projects.

The Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, underlined the importance of community participation in energy projects. Specifically, it commits to ensuring that community energy can play a role in reaching the at least 70% renewable electricity target by 2030. The pivotal measure to deliver on this target is the RESS.

The main strands to the community features in RESS are:

• A separate community category within the RESS auction to give a route to market for community-led generation projects. In the first auction alone this resulted in seven community projects gaining support
• An enabling framework of measures to support communities to develop renewable electricity projects to feed the category including: trusted intermediaries, trusted advisors, financial supports and information guides
• A mandatory community benefit fund set at €2/MWh for all generation projects to be used for the wider economic, environmental, social and cultural well-being of the local community. The community benefit funds under the first RESS auction which was held last year will deliver close to €4million a year to sustainable community initiatives targeted at those communities living in close proximity to the RESS-1 Projects
• Mandatory investment opportunities for citizens and communities in RESS projects
• A RESS Communities steering board has been established to advise on the policy and implementation of the community features of RESS

RESS mandates all projects to establish a Community Benefit Fund worth €2/MWh of generation. To ensure all parties are fully equipped to engage in this process, we have published the RESS-1 CBF Good Practice Principles Handbook. The development of this handbook has benefited from a public consultation process earlier this year which included five interactive community town hall webinars and focus groups.

A key aspect of the operation of the CBF is that of communities being fully involved in the decision-making process. They will shape the strategy to maximise the benefits of the funds for all members of the community. A particular focus of the funds is to support local initiatives that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Examples of projects that would be expected to be supported when these funds become operational later this year and next are home and community hall retrofits, pollinator farms, cycling paths, educational materials and scholarships and sports clubs activities. The Handbook contains case study details of existing community benefit funds in its appendices.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has launched the National Community Benefit Fund Register. This will ensure the highest possible standards of governance will apply to the funds.

The RESS Community Steering Board brings together a distinguished panel of experience and academic achievement in the fields of renewable energy and in community engagement and activism in Ireland. The Board will be decisive in shaping a tremendous opportunity for the development of community energy in Ireland.

Its membership is comprised of:

• Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications - policy
• Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) – grid policy
• ESB Networks – grid delivery
• EirGrid – grid delivery
• Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) – implementation
• Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD) – community advocate, Government
• County and City Management Association (CCMA) – community advocate, Local Government
• energy4all – community energy advocate, Scotland
• seven representatives from the Academic and Community Sectors