Bonn/Husum At the main wind power event in Germany this year, WWEA presented an outline of the WWEA Community Engagement Guidelines for the first time. WWEA Secretary General Stefan Gsänger highlighted the document’s key elements, which will be published in full during the forthcoming 22nd World Wind Energy Conference WWEC2025 in Shantou, China, from 3-5 December 2025.
This was followed by a presentation of the ‘Steinfurt Engagement Guidelines‘ by Jörg Tiemann, which set out concrete standards for community engagement in the German district of Steinfurt, including a certification scheme.
In 2024, WWEA implemented its new strategy and set up the Community Engagement Council, which guided the drafting of the WWEA guidelines. The main principles are defined in the guidelines:
- Transparency and disclosure
- Early and continuous engagement
- Inclusivity, gender equality and protection of vulnerable groups.
- Respect for local cultural, social and political contexts
- Fair and equitable benefit-sharing
- Grievance redress mechanism
- Monitoring, reporting and accountability
The guidelines also recommend that the engagement process should be ongoing from the early planning stage through to the potentially decommissioning stage, including the permitting and construction period and operation.
The guidelines focus particularly on which benefit-sharing mechanisms can be applied. Suggested mechanisms include job creation, co-ownership, complete ownership and reduced electricity tariffs. Other chapters include specific requirements for offshore wind and grievance redress mechanisms.
WWEA Secretary General Stefan Gsänger:
Wind power, like other renewables, has seen tremendous progress in recent years and decades, and is now one of the cheapest and most accessible energy sources, as well as being environmentally friendly. For wind power to be successfully deployed around the globe, it is crucial that people benefit from wind farms in their vicinity. The purpose of the WWEA guidelines is therefore to set standards so that every wind farm around the world benefits the local population and promotes the use of more wind power and renewables.
WWEA Community Engagement Council members as of 15 September 2025:
- Enercon, Germany
- Eolica, Brazil
- EVK, Germany
- HellwegWind, Germany
- Renewable Resources, Pakistan
- Windey, China
- Windpark Druiberg, Germany
- Windplus, India
- Adviser: Monica Oliphant, Australia
