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Communities across Scotland are missing out on millions of pounds from wind farms because their owners are paying less than expected to locals, a Ferret investigation has found.
Since 2014, the Scottish Government has recommended onshore wind developers pay £5,000 to nearby communities each year for every megawatt they install.
Although the payments are voluntary, virtually every wind farm makes some level of contribution and they are considered part of being a “good neighbour” to impacted communities.
But analysis of a publicly available database shows more than 20 onshore projects built in the last decade – including some owned by European governments, Scottish energy giants and global financial firms – are paying less than the £5,000 figure.
Together, these projects deliver £2m less every year to communities than if they met the benchmark. Over the average 25-year lifetime of a wind farm, that shortfall adds up to over £50m.
Many of the projects paying beneath the threshold will still operate into the 2040s, meaning nearby communities will receive lower payments for decades. One community representative said they were facing “acute injustice” as a result.
The industry told The Ferret that ‘community benefit’ payments now cost developers “twice as much” as they did in 2014, and said many projects are on the edge of financial viability due to rising costs.
Despite that, trade body Scottish Renewables claimed there was still “exceptionally high compliance” with the Scottish Government guidance and noted that payments were delivered “on an unrivalled scale to any other sector”.
However campaigners and politicians argued those near these wind farms were being given “meagre compensation” for living with the disruption and impact on landscapes that turbines cause.
One said our findings showed the system was “not fit for purpose” and communities were missing out on funds due to the “whim of developers”.
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Onshore wind farms have expanded rapidly across rural Scotland this century. Community benefits are meant to ensure those living nearest turbines receive a fair share of the value created by the use of local land and resources.
The wind industry says the funding has made a real difference. More than £200m has been paid out since the 1990s, supporting projects that can be hard to fund in rural areas including transport schemes, sports clubs, food parcels, play parks, and services for people with disabilities.
But our analysis shows not all projects built since 2015 are paying the expected amount, despite the 2014 Scottish Government guidance noting that it applied to “all renewable energy developments in Scotland which are not yet operational”.
Using official figures compiled by Local Energy Scotland, The Ferret has identified 21 wind farms built between 2015 and 2025 which pay less than the £5,000 benchmark.
Developers argue community benefit packages are usually agreed early in the planning process and are difficult to change once financing is secured – meaning they might have already been decided before 2014.
However, the £5,000 figure was already considered the industry standard before that year.
Eight of the projects paying below the figure were given planning permission in 2014 or later. Others were approved earlier but not built until years later, long after expectations around community benefit had changed.
State-owned
The largest project paying below the benchmark is the 177MW Dorenell wind farm in Moray, which is made up of 59 turbines, each 126 metres tall.
Dorenell pays £2525 per megawatt each year, just over half the benchmark. Over 25 years, that means communities around the site will receive almost £11m less.
The wind farm is owned by EDF, the French state-owned energy company. The project was granted planning permission in 2012 but did not become operational until 2019.
EDF claimed the Local Energy Scotland data used by The Ferret is “misleading” because it ignores a “range of other investment” provided through Dorenell.
This includes an endowment for the local community, annual contributions to the local authority to improve paths, and a dedicated ranger service and visitor centre.
But Patti Nelson, the chair of the Cabrach Community Association, which represents one of the communities that receives funding from Dorenell, said the low funding had caused locals “sustained consternation”.
She added: “With a remaining lifespan of over 20 years, we’ll continue to strongly push EDF on the need to rebalance this acute injustice and purposeful underinvestment in this community.”
Other projects paying below the threshold were developed by major players in the energy market, including state-backed companies and multinational investors.
Among them is Andershaw in South Lanarkshire, which started operating in 2017. It was then owned by Norway’s state-backed Statkraft and produces enough energy to power over 25,000 homes. Andershaw was sold to Irish firm Greencoat in 2021 but is still maintained and managed by Statkraft.
The project pays just over half of the recommended amount to locals, despite receiving planning consent in 2014.
Greencoat also now owns the 23-turbine Corriegarth project in the Highlands which it bought back in 2017. It is paying just £2,000 per MW to locals each year, despite consent being granted the year after the guidance came in.
Domestic energy giants ScottishPower and SSE have also built projects since 2015 that pay below the benchmark.
SSE pointed out it has invested more than £85m in community funds in Scotland over the past two decades and was the first developer to introduce a £5,000-per-megawatt standard in 2012.
ScottishPower Renewables said it has provided more than £75.5m in community benefits across the UK since the 1990s and had adhered to the Scottish Government guidance since 2014.
Its Black Law extension project pays £2,222 per megawatt despite becoming operational in 2016 – although it received planning permission back in 2011.
One project paying below the threshold is owned by a fund managed by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, while another is controlled by Nadara, a renewables company whose ultimate controlling party is based in the Cayman Islands, according to corporate filings.
Nadara, which owns the A’Chruach wind farm in Argyll, argued planning permission for the project was granted in 2013, before the £5,000 benchmark was introduced.
‘Meagre compensation’
The findings come amid a push to raise expectations around community benefit from future projects, particularly in areas hosting large numbers of turbines.
Renewables companies argue many onshore wind projects operate on tight margins and that higher payments could stop developments going ahead – because developers could make better returns investing in other assets or projects elsewhere.
In 2024, Highland Council proposed a ‘social value charter’ that would raise expected community benefit payments for new wind farms to £12,500 per megawatt.
Under the proposal, £5,000 would still go to communities closest to wind farms, while £7,500 would be paid into a ‘strategic fund’ to support projects across the Highlands.
Council leaders said the charter reflects the scale of renewable development in the region and aims to ensure Highlanders are seeing lasting benefits. The renewable energy industry has strongly opposed the proposal, warning it would make many projects unviable.
A representative of EDF went further, telling officials the proposal would have “serious implications” for all inward investment into the Highlands not just renewables, a freedom of information response received by The Ferret shows.
Research by consultancy Biggar Economics suggested the proposals could reduce both community benefit payments and jobs and investment linked to new wind developments, because 80 per cent of planned wind farms in the region might not go ahead.
Some are comfortable with that possibility. They include the Liberal Democrat MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, Angus Macdonald, who told The Ferret he would support a “halt” to new renewables projects unless community benefit payments were increased.
Macdonald argued payments should rise to at least £12,500 per megawatt or be linked directly to a five per cent share of a wind farm’s revenue. Without that uplift, he claimed, communities were being asked to host major infrastructure for “meagre compensation”.
Flick Monk of Platform London said the current system of community benefit payments was “not fit for purpose”. She claimed communities were missing out on vital funding “due to the whim of developers”.
“It’s no wonder that communities are increasingly turning against renewable energy when developers treat them with such disdain,” Monk claimed. She also branded the existing £5,000 benchmark “woefully low” and said it had been eroded by inflation since 2014.
Josh Doble, director of policy at Community Land Scotland, called for a “transparent and proportionate discussion” about how the benefits of onshore wind are shared.
He said that while developers meeting the benchmark should be “congratulated” the sector needs to “ensure payments are made fit for 2026 and reflect the scale of development” happening across rural Scotland.
Morag Watson, director of onshore wind at Scottish Renewables, said the sector was “proud of its positive record” on community benefit funding, which had been “transformational” in many communities.
Changes to the UK subsidy system for renewables mean community benefit now costs developers twice as much as it did in 2014, according to Watson, “equivalent to 15–20 per cent of developer profits”.
She claimed many onshore wind projects are now “on the very edge of financial viability” due to rising costs, leaving less money to “support communities”.
"While community benefit funds do represent an important and visible contribution, we should not lose sight of the wider public good delivered by onshore wind projects,” she added.
“That includes local supply chain and workforce growth, nature enhancement and the protection renewable energy provides consumers against the volatility of global price shocks.”
All of the companies named in this piece were contacted for a response.
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Paul is an investigative journalist with a focus on the environment, energy and climate change. His work has been featured by Channel 4 News and the UK’s leading newspapers. When not Ferreting he can be found walking and listening to podcasts.
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