Analysis by the Ferret investigative journal has found that China’s government and an investment vehicle based in the Cayman Islands are among a group of foreign owners whose Scottish wind farms have paid out more than £1bn to shareholders in recent years.

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As the journal reported earlier this year, communities across the country feel they are being short-changed by developers’ large-scale wind farm projects which can alter treasured landscapes for decades and cause disruption while being built.

The Ferret analysis identified 37 projects ultimately owned outside the UK which reported paying £1.15bn in dividends over five years. One of the biggest potential winners identified is IIF International Holdings LP, a Cayman Islands fund managed by the Wall Street banking giant, JP Morgan. The identities of the investors in the IIF International fund are not made public because of rules in the Caymans, which is considered a corporate tax and secrecy haven. But they reportedly include investors from the US, the Middle East and Japan.

Meanwhile, however, the UK Government’s clean energy investment company, GB Energy, has committed up to £1bn over three years to help more communities own local energy projects, which it claims could become a “long-term engine for local economic growth and community wealth building”.

Part of the rationale is that community-owned energy projects have been found to deliver more for communities than the current model of ‘community benefit’ payments – where developers make voluntary payments to support local initiatives near their turbines. One 2021 study found community-owned projects provide 34 times more money to communities than the average community benefit package. GB Energy also point to evidence that public support for the transition to cleaner energy increases when local people own projects and see their economic benefits first-hand.

But currently only around one per cent of Scotland’s onshore wind capacity is owned by communities.