The dataset shows renewable energy projects in Scotland, and allows details to be attached to these projects under three themes:  

  • Community benefits
  • Shared ownership
  • Community and locally owned

The projects are available in map view and list view and you can filter between the three themes.

Community benefits and shared ownership

What is the register?

The Register of Community Benefits and Shared Ownership (the Register) provides details of community benefits committed to communities across Scotland. Annual reports capture the details of fund spend and examples of projects and themes to demonstrate how the funds support local priorities.

It also captures shared ownership details and opportunities. Annual reports capture any updates on the shared ownership relationship and the annual shared ownership payments from the project.

Visit our webpages for more information on community benefits and shared ownership.

What projects are included?

Projects included in the Register include those added from the UK Government’s Renewable Energy Planning Database and those we are made aware of by other means.

The projects shown are intended as a guide to installations in Scotland and should not be seen as an exhaustive list of all projects. If you would like to see a renewable energy development added to the map, please email us.

Please note that the Register may have inaccurate or outdated information, and should be regarded as a guide only.

Any disputes regarding community benefit should be dealt with directly between the relevant parties.

Following the refresh of the register in July 2024, the register shows projects that are operational. We are working towards including projects in other stages of development.

How are the average and total figures calculated?

The average committed community payments and total community benefits that have been committed this year are shown on the projects overview page.

Average community value from recent projects

This is the average value of community benefits per installed MW committed from projects commissioned in the last 36 months, where information has been gathered and published on the Register by a project developer/ owner/ administrator or found via publicly available information.

Whilst many new projects offer a package of community benefits with a value equivalent to £5k/MW/yr, in line with the Good Practice Principles, the figure shown may be more or less than this for a number of reasons including:

  • No new projects being commissioned in the last 36 months
  • Projects commissioned in the last 36 months do not have community benefit data recorded.
  • Projects commissioned in the last 36 months with a community or developer form attached are for a technology other than onshore wind.
  • Projects commissioned in the last 36 months are not able to offer a package of benefits with a value equivalent to £5k/MW/Yr.
  • Projects commissioned in the last 36 months offer a package of benefits with a value equivalent to more than £5k/MW/Yr.

Note that contributions from wholly owned community projects are excluded from this calculation.

Total community benefits paid in the last year

This is an overview of the value of committed community benefits from all projects registered and operational and where the value of the community benefits has been recorded by a project developer/ owner/ administrator or found via publicly available information. This figure details the total value of the community benefits that has been committed to communities across Scotland in the previous 12 month period.

The information captures community benefits paid across all technologies in last year and different technologies have different payment mechanism for community benefits.

The information captures community benefits paid from projects which were established prior to Scottish Government’s Good Practice Principles eg the Good Practice principles for onshore wind have only been in place since 2014

Why doesn’t the actual annual fund spend match the committed annual community benefits?

From July 2024 onwards, we will be capturing actual fund spend from projects through annual reports. It will take time for updates to come in and annual reports to be submitted. The Onshore Wind Sector Deal (published September 2023) commits the sector to providing annual updates to the Register. We expect that the committed funds and actual fund spend figures will become closer over time as reports are submitted. There may still be a difference in the figures, for example due to:

  • The number of projects/ size of investment requested is less than the funding available.
  • There was a lack of suitable projects for fund spend (eg ineligible applications or poor alignment with fund priorities.
  • Funding was brought forward and allocated in a previous funding period.
  • Funding was rolled over to be allocated in a later funding period.
  • Communities facing different priorities and different demands for community benefit spend over the lifetime of the renewable  energy project. This can provide changes to the annual fund spend eg larger spend was evidenced as communities recovered from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic or larger spend is evidenced when a community completes an asset transfer of a community facility.
  • The community projects receiving investment was more or less than the funding provided in one year.

Community Benefits Register narrative report

This narrative report gives an overview of the register and includes highlights from the last year and potential future trends.

How to add your details

Adding details of your renewable energy project and any associated community benefits is important to ensure transparency and trust with communities and to highlight the great work that the sector is doing.

The Register is voluntary and relies on project developers/ owners/ administrators sharing their experiences and the lessons they have learnt. If you are a provider of community benefits, we would be very grateful if you could share information.

Most project developers/ owners will have a personalised login page to update their project details. If you don’t have this or have forgotten the details, please contact Local Energy Scotland.

I can’t find a project

If you want to add details of a project that isn’t on the Register, please contact us and tell us the name of the project, project stage, local authority area, installed capacity and renewable technology.

 

Community and locally owned

The Scottish Government’s ambition is to have 2GW of community and locally owned energy by the end of 2030.

This dataset shows community and locally owned renewable energy projects across Scotland. Browse the map and list to discover the projects which are contributing to Scottish targets for community and locally owned energy,  including projects which have received funding from the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).

What is the community and locally owned map?

The map shows projects recorded in the community and locally owned renewable energy database, which is owned by the Scottish Government and maintained by Energy Saving Trust.

Operational projects with renewable energy capacities of under 50kW and projects that cannot be shared publicly are not shown on the map but are still counted towards the community and locally owned renewable energy capacity total.

Where projects are in shared ownership, only the percentage of the capacity which is community or locally owned is reported to contribute towards the total installed capacity.

Data sources

Information is sought from a variety of sources for the community and locally owned renewable energy database. A list of the main data sources used can be found in the latest annual community and locally owned renewable energy in Scotland report on Energy Saving Trust’s website.

For projects where complete information could not be obtained, likely installed capacity has been estimated based on technology type, ownership category and building type. A full list of assumptions used also can be found in the annual report.

Updates

The full update for the community and locally owned database and map is carried out annually in preparation for the community and locally owned renewable energy report. Updates received throughout the year are added to the map on a monthly basis.

To provide an update on a project or to add a community or locally owned renewable energy project to the map, please email us.

 

Explanation of terms used throughout the Register

Project

The renewable energy project ie windfarm, solar farm, hydro scheme.

 

Community benefits

Community benefits are a renewable industry led voluntary initiative to support communities.

 

Commuity benefit package

A package of voluntary benefits that a renewable energy project owner provides communities within an agreed area related to the project.   Community benefits packages are not limited to annual monetary payments and could include non-monetary arrangements.

 

Fund

An annual payment over the lifetime of the project to the community that supports local projects identified by the community. Funds are generally very flexible. Priorities are often determined by the community, though sometimes the project owner may have particular areas of interest too. Funds don’t necessarily need to be spent within a particular financial year.

 

Historic data

Reports on fund contributions and spend for all operational years of the project up to the current reporting period.

Community benefit package value

The equivalent value of the whole package of benefits (including for example any contributions to regional funds or community benefits other than a local fund) committed to the community once the asset is operational shown in £/MW/Yr.

Financial investment decision date

The date that a decision was made on financing the project. This is relevant for projects from 2024 onwards where a commitment was made as part of the onshore wind sector deal to provide an in-principle community benefit agreement prior to this date and a binding agreement after this date.

Commercial Operation Date (COD)/ date operational

The date the project (asset) started generating energy. Note that this may not be the start date of the fund, please see the individual fund details for this date.

Project stage

The stage of development that the project is at.  This is updated when annual report is submitted or as requested.

Pre-planning A planning application has not yet been submitted.

Planning The project has been submitted for a planning decision.

In construction The project has been approved and is now being built.

Operational The project has been built and is now generating energy.

Decommissioned The project has stopped generating energy.

Capacity

The amount of energy the project (asset) can generate shown in megawatts (MW).

Project developer/ project owner

The project developer is the organisation that developed the renewable energy project (for example they may have submitted the planning application). The project developer may be different to the project owner if the project has been sold at any stage before or after the project becomes operational.

The project owner is current owner of the project that provides the community benefit funding.

Index-linked

The Scottish Government’s Good Practice Principles recommend that community benefits are index-linked. This may be linked to the retail price index or the consumer price index.

Percent of shared ownership offered

The percentage of the project available for community ownership.

Public email

The email made available for the public to view and to contact for further information about community benefits or shared ownership associated with the project.

National standards for community engagement

The national standards for community engagement are available on the Scottish Community Development Centre website. These standards are referenced and recommended in the CARES Community Benefits Toolkit.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

A written understanding between the developer and community groups either at the consultation stage before a planning application is submitted or, after the planning application has been submitted and the developer awaits a decision. An example MoU is available in our Community Benefits Toolkit.

Community Benefit Agreement

A formal agreement between the the developer and the community group(s) detailing the community benefit arrangements. Usually this would be signed after the project receives planning permission.  An example community benefit agreement is provided in our community benefits toolkit.

Community Action Plan

The community action plan or similar document used to address local views/ needs when setting fund priorities and planning community benefit fund spend. Some example community action plans are available in our community benefits toolkit.

Community investment decision

The decision the community came to about whether or not to invest in the shared ownership opportunity.

Community investment date

The date a decision was made by the community on whether or not to invest in the shared ownership opportunity

Heads of terms

Where head of terms have been completed the date of completion is provided.

Total actual spend

This figure is an estimate of the total spend for the given time period. The given time period is the year to date unless another period is selected. The total spend is calculated using the number of days that fall within the given time period as a proportion of the total reported spend for each project.

Project end date

The date that the asset stops generating energy. Please note that the fund end date may be different as funds may still spend in the years after the asset has been decommissioned.