Proponent’s commitments to benefit-sharing from big wind, solar and battery projects backed by government revealed in new resource.

By Bec Halliday, First Nations Clean Energy Network

An important new resource available details 59 clean energy projects that were successful in tenders awarded via the Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS), and the implications for First Nations people and communities.

The CIS is a $70 billion Australian Government revenue underwriting scheme to accelerate investment in clean energy projects.

The Scheme — which embeds social and First Nations outcomes in its merit criteria and makes them contractually binding — has become a centrepiece of the Australian Government’s approach to the energy transition.

Australia’s renewable build requires unprecedented development on lands where First Nations have rights and interests.

The government has recognised that effective engagement, equity and benefit-sharing can reduce project risk, cost and delay while providing mutual benefits for investors and First Nations communities.

Proponents of CIS awarded projects must actively engage with First Nations people impacted by these developments to realise engagement, equitable participation, and other benefit sharing opportunities as per the government tender requirements.

Created by the First Nations Clean Energy Network, the new resource includes an interactive map of the 59 awarded projects in areas where First Nations have rights and interests.

It enables rights-holders – First Nations communities, and stakeholders – proponents, investors, and government, to track progress and ensure First Nations are engaged and fully participating in and benefiting from these developments.

Proponents engaged early in our new resource tracking First Nations outcomes in Capacity Investment Scheme projects have provided positive feedback, made amendments where necessary, and expressed enthusiasm for their commitments being tracked.

The website provides information on the awarded projects along with details on the First Nations merit criteria associated with each tender, the benefit-sharing measures proponents have committed to in each project, and contact details for engagement opportunities.

Users can cross-check ambition, check progress, and ensure First Nations communities are not just involved, but participating.

First Nations communities and groups can use the webpage to find out which projects have been awarded, the identity and contact details for proponents, whether those projects intersect with their rights and interests, and how to get involved.

This in turn can provide a lever for First Nations people and groups to address how, where, when, and to what extent those outcomes are being met by proponents, and to take action if needed.

The First Nations Clean Energy Strategy explicitly commits governments to ensuring First Nations have equitable opportunities, benefit-sharing, and self-determination in the energy transition.

We look forward to government continuing to ensure, at a minimum, that First Nations outcomes remain embedded in the proposed Electricity Services Entry Mechanism (ESEM) being proposed by the Nelson Review (through the National Electricity Market wholesale market settings review) building on the CIS’s strengths (and recognition that First Nations participation and ownership results in commercially more valuable and successful projects) and aligned with the First Nations Clean Energy Strategy.

And to proponents meeting their commitments under the CIS and building clean energy participation in partnership with First Nations – the journey together has begun!

Visit the new webpage From Commitment to Delivery

This article was first published in Renew Economy