The 20-year agreement between the Nyul Nyul people of Beagle Bay and Horizon Power to develop renewable energy has shown the power even the smallest Indigenous organisation can wield in Australia's push for net-zero emissions.

The Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the Nyul Nyul PBC Aboriginal Corporation in the small North-West community 100km from Broome gives Horizon Power access to 4ha in Beagle Bay for renewable energy infrastructure that will supply the community clean electricity.

Expected to be solar-based and including upgrades such as the airstrip lighting installation for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Horizon Power chief executive Stephanie Unwin lauded the agreement as a significant milestone for the company.

"We understand the need to tailor bespoke energy solutions to meet the unique energy needs of all regional and remote customers," she said.

"We are committed to building and delivering energy solutions which balance the demand, reliability and future energy needs of our towns with the voices and opinions of those who help make it a community."

The exciting development to renewable energy for a small Kimberley community not only ensured remote residents had access to renewable energy and cleaner power, but showed how similar Indigenous organisations can leverage the renewables race to better negotiate long-term, beneficial deals for their respective communities.

Nyul Nyul PBC Aboriginal Corporation director Portia Wright told National Indigenous Times the organisation didn't feel the initial deal on the table from Horizon would sustainably benefit the Beagle Bay community. So, it enlisted the help of the Kimberley Land Council, which facilitated a longer-term deal, with benefits skewed to sustainable economic and social opportunities for the Nyul Nyul people, as well as reliable power, after the community had run on "old and obsolete diesel fuel stations".

"Horizon saw greener pastures were needed and requested if they could find an area close to the community to build a solar farm that would provide the community with electricity," Ms Wright said.

"It's obviously a greener solution, more sustainable, reliable and less expensive."

The 20-year deal was a while in the making, and hinged on Nyul Nyul having funding for services it felt would eventually create employment and social opportunities for its community.

The KLC helped leverage its bargaining power from what Ms Wright said initially was "minimal compensation" after a few years of negotiations that "didn't seem to foster long-term benefits for our community".

"So we consulted with Horizon through the KLC, which has more experience in dealing with these type of negotiations, and they came back to us with a really stronger deal."

Ms Wright said negotiations were focused not on how much funding it would receive, but the length of the deal and how it could be used.

"It's not a lot of money, but the deal we struck was one of the best deals we could come up with," she said.

"That money will sit in our board's trust fund and be used for projects that are going to improve our community... It's not going to go to individual, it's going to go to the whole community.

"This deal took over three years, back and forth with the negotiation... We had to have an ironclad agreement, and the way around that was to do an Indigenous Land Use Agreement."

Like many First Nations communities, organisations and PBCs that represent them, Ms Wright felt there were generational, wealth-creation opportunities for Indigenous organisations across Australia to leverage from emission reductions commitments over the coming decades.

"That's where we as a board, that's where we wanted to head down," she said.

"Because we want to keep Country for the future generation, we want to ensure the Beagle Bay community continues to survive and thrive, and we want to make sure that they are looked after as well… we want to make sure all our mob is looked after.

"So when negotiations like this come up, and we have got to give land over - and we know it's for the for the betterment of the community, for their lifestyles, for their generations to come – we have to make sure as a board that we are compensated well, so we can put further money back into the community."

Ms Wright said although the corporation was in its infancy - with Native Title determined in 2021 – she urged other organisations negotiating long-term, land rights deals to allow a repeat of some of the errors of the past.

"We don't want to repeat past mistakes from other organisations that's had Native Title determinations for more than 20 years," she said.

"So for us to strike a deal like this for the Nyul Nyul people… we're really, really quite proud of it."