Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire MP Angus MacDonald has launched a sharp attack on Scottish Government proposals for community benefit payments linked to renewable energy developments, describing them as “an insult to the Highlands and Islands”.
The draft plans, now out for consultation, recommend a payment of £6,000 per megawatt per year for onshore wind projects, a figure Mr MacDonald argues represents a real-terms cut when set against the £5,000 per megawatt benchmark introduced in 2014 once inflation is taken into account.
The proposals also suggest £150 per megawatt per year for battery energy storage systems and do not set out a recommended level of community benefit for hydropower, pumped hydro storage or commercial-scale bioenergy.
Mr MacDonald said the plans fall well short of what Highland communities have been calling for.
“The Highland Council has been clear that £12,500 per megawatt per year should apply to all renewable projects.
“Instead, rural communities are being offered a real-terms cut.
“These communities should feel absolutely furious and betrayed.
“In 2025, the Highlands received just £9 million in community benefits.
“Across the whole of Scotland, the figure was less than £30 million.
“That is a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of what is being generated.
“Renewables are now a multi-billion pound industry in Scotland.
“The utilities companies and infrastructure funds are making billions out of Scotland.
“We must be properly compensated.
“I have consistently made the case, alongside Shetland Islands Council, for 5% of gross revenue to flow directly back to the communities who host this infrastructure.
“That is a fair, proportionate share of the wealth being generated on their doorstep.
“£6,000 per megawatt simply does not even come close.
“We are constantly told that Scotland is the ‘Saudi Arabia of renewables’.
“But if that is true, then why are the communities of the Highlands and Islands still being short-changed?
“Turbines, substations, pylons and battery storage are transforming our landscapes, yet the financial return to local people remains pitiful.
“I have consistently raised these issues with Ministers in Westminster and Holyrood, including the First Minister, Deputy First Minister and Gillian Martin, but it seems no-one is listening, as these ill-thought proposals prove.
“Far from being empowered, rural Scotland continues to be neglected by the Scottish Government.
“If ministers are serious about a just transition, they must stop tinkering at the margins and deliver a settlement that genuinely reflects the scale of the profits being extracted from our communities.”
Mr MacDonald has previously warned that unless community benefit arrangements are strengthened, public support for further renewable expansion in rural and island areas could be undermined.
The consultation on the proposed framework is now under way.
