"Residents in some of Australia's renewable energy hotspots say they have been forced to create their own community information groups to address concerns about the nation's rapid energy transition.
The Renewable Energy Alliance and the Community Power Agency, two independent non-profit organisations, are pushing the federal government to fund 50 local energy hubs nationally to improve community engagement in renewable projects in regional areas.
The proposed network of hubs would act as physical drop-in points for communities to access information, and would ideally be staffed by locals to engage with both residents and developers.
Renewable Energy Alliance national director Andrew Bray said the omission of these hubs from the March federal budget was a missed opportunity.
"It is critical that communities who are involved in these regions are on board and they get to see some benefits out of these projects," he said.
"When communities are against it [renewable energy projects], it can create difficulties … and then you see some division, the project themselves stall, it becomes hard to meet the targets.""