Financial participation of affected municipalities in planning, construction and operation of renewable energy plants FinBEE

Planning, construction and operation of renewable energy plants generate added value and employment. How much of this remains in the region depends heavily on the structure of the project as well as country and region specific regulations or characteristics. There are several potentials for participation of local stakeholders: The local construction trades, maintenance service providers and suppliers of the systems can be involved in individual value creation steps. Local players, who in turn participate in the revenue and profits, can provide the equity capital of the operating company. But regional actors are not always aware of these relationships. In some cases, the legal or economic framework limits financial participation. If local people notice their region participating financially fair to the economic benefits of the energy transition, this can be a factor in strengthening their acceptance of local renewable energy development.

Since about 2017, various regulatory approaches are therefore being discussed which should enable municipalities to take part in a higher share of the revenues and / or profits of local renewable energy plants. This includes, for example, a special levy, which our project partners Becker Büttner Held and the Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility developed in a study for Agora Energiewende, or an outside area levy for wind turbines proposed by the Foundation for Environmental Energy Law. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy commissioned the IÖW and its project partners to systematically prepare the approaches discussed so far, to evaluate them with regard to their impact and other relevant criteria, and if necessary to supplement and further develop them. For this purpose, the expected regional economic effects are determined, the approaches are legally evaluated and recommendations for implementation are given.