Announcements :  Bold Energy Builders Community Benefits Agreement and American Energy Dividend

Q: Why should a rural community host a wind or solar project? 

A: Because it benefits the community.

Q: How do we know that it benefits the community? 

A: Because we negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that guarantees it.

A Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) is a collaboration between community and company. It can have whatever you want in it. Money for schools or scholarships. Local hiring requirements. A new ballfield, a new daycare center. Even annual dividends to families living near the project. As long as it’s lawful, anything the partners agree to can go in the CBA, and once it’s signed, it is legally binding. (Any community group negotiating a CBA should work with qualified counsel to ensure compliance with all applicable laws.)

For the developer, this helps accelerate permitting, and helps establish a good relationship with the community for the long term. For the community, it means residents will get the specific benefits they want, and accountability from the company.

Bold Energy Builders Community Benefits Agreement & American Energy Dividend

The Bold Energy Builders CBA legal template is a starting point to identify priorities for negotiations. The template is designed to be customized based on community wishes and developers’ abilities. In addition to capturing the project’s financial commitment to support various community programs over time, the agreement also establishes standards of conduct around labor practices, local content, transparent communication and community governance. 

Our premise is that large-scale wind and solar projects can be highly beneficial, but there are also legitimate concerns about their impacts.

By solidifying support from various constituents early, developers and investors can accelerate a project’s schedule and deliver key benefits to important allies in the community. Solar and wind projects should be  “win/win” developments that deliver both inexpensive renewable energy to rural communities and significant local economic benefits. CBAs are one way to achieve this outcome.

Of special note in our CBA template is a mechanism called the American Energy Dividend, which addresses the fact a project disproportionately impacts those who live, or own property, closest to the actual project site. The American Energy Dividend sets aside a separate allocation of funding each year that is paid to all homeowners that live within a defined physical proximity to the site. The group of included beneficiaries can be decided on a case-by-case basis by the community, though would typically be within the project’s viewshed. This useful financial tool can focus more payments to the people who are asymmetrically impacted by the project. Note that the Dividend is separate from payments to landowners for easements or rights of way.

In addition to the Community Benefits Agreement, Bold Energy Builders offers a range of other resources to both rural communities and project developers so they can build successful community partnerships that deliver successful solar and wind projects. Please contact us to explore collaboration: [info@boldalliance.org]

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Bold Energy Builders Community Benefits Agreement & American Energy Dividend Template