By David Wilson, EnergyAustralia
My favourite part of my job is talking to people. That sounds funny but what I mean, I genuinely just like talking with people, over a coffee, in the street, over the phone. It doesn’t matter.
A lot of the conversations that my team and I have aren’t easy. Change is uncomfortable and the size and scale of the energy transition makes that change even more uncomfortable. Honestly, it is like trying to run a marathon at the same time as having open heart surgery.
But sometimes we get to have great conversations, like the ones that we have been having with the local community on benefit sharing over the last two years.
My background is in transport infrastructure projects, and it is really easy to demonstrate the direct benefit for the local community of a new lift at the local railway station or an extra lane on a local road. For new energy projects, it is a bit more challenging to demonstrate. Benefit sharing is a voluntary initiative by a project owner to share a portion of advantages or ‘benefits’ generated with a host community, that can generate a positive, rewarding legacy.
In Lithgow and its surrounding villages, the impact of the energy transition will be keenly felt with more than 60 per cent of gross local product coming from energy generation and mining. Despite this, people in Wallerawang, Rydal, Portland, and Lithgow are proud of their community and optimistic about the future. It was this pride and optimism, as well as a strong aspiration for their community, which came through in individual conversations, one-on-one meetings, and collaborative workshops we held in support of our Benefit Sharing Program.
We didn’t want to tell the community what we thought you needed. We wanted to hear it from you.
The draft Benefit Sharing Program report is now available for public comment. It outlines EnergyAustralia’s $20 million commitment to a suite of projects developed with the community, for the community, and will ultimately be implemented by the community.
This stands in addition to our ongoing community support through grants and sponsorship, worth $1.5 million over the last ten years. We will also be engaging with the community on an additional Benefit Sharing Program for our proposed Mt Piper Battery project.
Better than most, I understand that there is a lot of fear and uncertainty that is associated with our new energy projects and what will happen next for Mt Piper operationally. I hear that in the conversations that my team and I have. I want to assure everyone that EnergyAustralia is committed to this community and to its success. And your feedback on our Benefit Sharing program is vital to achieving that success.
David Wilson is Head of Community Engagement at EnergyAustralia.
EnergyAustralia welcomes feedback on the draft report and has recently extended the comment period to Monday 31 March 2025. Details on how you can contribute are available on their website.
