The Scottish Government has announced a new pilot scheme to increase opportunities for local communities to benefit from renewable energy developments.

The scheme will focus on 10 publicly-owned Forestry Land Scotland (FLS) sites that currently have windfarms approaching repowering.

Under the pilot, community groups—from South Lanarkshire to the Highlands—will be given a chance to lease the sites. This initiative marks a change to the existing Community Asset Transfer Scheme (CATS) by providing a protected window for local groups to make an asset transfer request to extend the operational life of the windfarms.

Energy Secretary Gillian Martin said the new measures would make it easier for groups across Scotland to reap the rewards from renewable energy projects.

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"Ownership and control of land is a powerful tool for communities to drive change and can help to develop local economies, provide activities and services, and boost community identity," the Energy Secretary stated. "It is yet another way that we are ensuring that communities can benefit from Scotland’s transition to renewable energy."

The new approach, developed in collaboration with FLS, aims to strengthen the community asset transfer process, which allows communities to request to buy or lease public land they believe they can make better use of.

Other changes to CATS include:

• Advance notification of upcoming lease opportunities, giving groups time to prepare their asset transfer requests before sites go to the open market.

• Dedicated guidance for repowering projects, including support on financing, evaluation, and governance.

• Targeted support through the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES), including help to develop project proposals.

Zoe Holliday, CEO of Community Energy Scotland, praised the move, noting that repowering of private developments represents one of the biggest opportunities to upscale the community energy sector quickly. She added that land ownership and energy assets have a "transformational impact" on communities across Scotland.