This report investigates the community benefit requirements under South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (RE IPPPP). This government-led procurement programme aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the national grid by procuring energy from private independent power producers (IPPs). Moreover, in line with national economic transformation agendas, the government has aimed to design this programme to maximise the economic development potential for the country. The procurement programme requires independent power producers (IPPs) to contribute to various economic development criteria, including four criteria focussing on the local communities in which renewable energy projects are located. These four criteria are local job creation, local ownership, economic development and socio-economic development. This model will target development spending into impoverished communities near the renewable energy projects. However, the nature of these requirements, and the ‘newness’ of this model – being implemented at scale over a short period of time – has also presented private renewable energy businesses with the significant challenge of engaging with community development processes, an area typically outside their expertise. This report explores the experiences and challenges of the renewable energy sector to date, both in meeting the RE IPPPP requirements, and planning for their longer-term implementation.