How municipalities support energy cooperatives: survey results from Germany and Switzerland

Meister, Thomas; Schmid, Benjamin; Seidl, Irmi; Klagge, Britta

doi:10.1186/s13705-020-00248-3

Cited by 44 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 54 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The second topic is models that depict an EC while optimizing a set variable, such as energy cost or consumption. Lastly, papers determining the drivers and barriers of ECs, such as the above mentioned literature reviews [3][4][5]. Another good example is [10], in which Soeiro and Dias investigate the motivations for joining an EC.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some countries the term is a separate legal form (e.g. Genossenschaft in DE and AT) in others just the concept of cooperations is used [4]. In [20] Capaccioli et al design two cooperations in Italy and conclude that the cooperation values that come with this concept are a big part why people participate.…”

Section: Fig 4 Classification Of Papers By Terminology Used To Refer To An Energy Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wind power can be implemented in ECs in two ways: with micro-wind turbines at the household level or with full-scale wind turbines at the EC level. According to Meister et al's analysis for Germany, the median wind capacity in ECs is 4.8 MW, indicating that wind power is typically used at the community level [4]. ECs powered solely by wind turbines were rarely described in the literature.…”

Section: Components Of An Energy Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The current state of research on energy communities

Gruber

Bachhiesl

Wogrin

2021

Elektrotech. Inftech.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The introduction of the Clean energy for all Europeans package by the European Union (EU) led to a significant boost of public and research interest in energy communities. However, since neither their definition nor their goals are clearly defined, there is a very broad field of research on this topic. This paper aims to classify existing research on energy communities and to analyze what this umbrella term looks like in the literature. First, a literature review is conducted with regard to energy communities that have a local scope and are community-owned. The analysis of the results leads to the determination of the following categories for the existing literature on energy communities: the terminology used to refer to energy communities, components of energy communities, and their characteristics and structure. The review affirms that space-saving and easily constructible components are used the most, with photovoltaics (PV) and storage at the forefront. Our results also show that a third-party aggregator can be a vital part of an energy community with various functions, from managing the community’s energy flow and local market to trading energy with the grid. Taking this into consideration, we conclude that the use of aggregators is a good way to make the formation of energy communities easier, especially for people without an engineering background.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fig 4 Classification Of Papers By Terminology Used To Refer To An Energy Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Components Of An Energy Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The current state of research on energy communities

Gruber

Bachhiesl

Wogrin

2021

Elektrotech. Inftech.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Second, the development of RECs in Germany has been positively influenced by the energy market liberalization, as the process opened up the market for a wider range of participation, including small energy suppliers, stimulated competition and bottom-up initiatives, and also granted people the freedom to invest in decentralized energy [42][43][44].…”

Section: Social Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building a Common Support Framework in Differing Realities—Conditions for Renewable Energy Communities in Germany and Bulgaria

Spasova

Braungardt

2021

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The revised EU Renewable Energy Directive first introduced renewable energy communities into the EU policy framework and requires Member States to implement a support framework for them. Given the broad scientific evidence showing the benefits of community energy for a just energy transition, a successful implementation across all Member States is essential. However, the preconditions for developing support frameworks differ largely between EU nations, as some countries have long-term experiences with supporting renewable energy communities (i.e., Germany and Denmark), while in other Member States, renewable energy communities are notably non-existent (i.e., Eastern European nations). With the purpose of providing scientific evidence to support the development of a policy framework for renewable energy communities in Eastern European Member States, this article compares key factors for the development of such communities in Bulgaria and Germany, combining a literature review with expert interviews to collect primary information on Bulgaria. A country analysis puts these factors into the contexts of both countries, while a cross-country comparison demonstrates that there are significant gaps in the support framework of Bulgaria, although these gaps are, to a lesser extent, also present in Germany. We discuss these shortcomings, derive policy recommendations and identify further research needs.

show abstract

“…The case study literature on local energy governance reveals a wide range of roles played by local government beyond its statuary permitting and spatial planning responsibilities. The list ranges from facilitators, innovators, participants, catalysts, supporters, networkers and advocates [87] to niche managers, change agents, process and network managers and "system topplers" [20] and mobilisers of the social capital needed to guide CE projects through unchartered territories [88]. Both Hoppe et al and Hawkey conclude that the success of the analyzed CE initiatives would have been less or maybe even zero if the relevant public o cials had not displayed active, engaged, and innovative forms of leadership.…”

Section: The Regional Actor Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

The Regional Case for Disruptive Energy Policy: A Civic Energy Perspective

McGovern¹

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundThis paper deploys a regional actor perspective to detect policy enablers of and barriers to the uptake of civic energy. In common with other forms of regional, decentralized energy, the civic energy concept not only challenges historical energy business models but changes the energy agenda to prioritize community development and climate issues. Energy policy needs to react by shifting from purely market regulations to the promotion of shared community energy solutions. Both current energy structures and established policy priorities are unsuited to deliver on widely recognized energy transition and sustainable development goals. Switching from a centralized to a decentralized energy mode is viewed as a major re-structuring of a socio-technical regime. In a series of expert interviews, two disruptive policy approaches, creative destruction and experimentation, are analyzed as to whether they can contribute to overcoming path dependency and carbon lock-in.ResultsThe interviews conducted with local and regional energy facilitators in seven North European countries identified a range of active, predominantly municipal and regional policy enablers of civic energy. Motivation for specific civic energy initiatives was derived from the translation of global climate goals such as the Paris Agreement into more focused and therefore tangible local targets, which acted as direct policy enablers. At the same time critical inconsistencies and a lack of coherence were identified in several national and European energy policy mixes. Over and above dismantling existing administrative and legislative restrictions on civic energy uptake, experimentation is needed to develop new community partnerships that can host civic energy initiatives and mobilize untapped local energy resources.ConclusionsMastering the uncertainties of re-framing energy systems requires systematic experimentation and an extended mandate for local and regional authorities. Whereas the fossil versus renewable energy policy debate seems to have been won, the shift from centralized to decentralized systems threatens existing power structures and remains highly contentious.

show abstract

How municipalities support energy cooperatives: survey results from Germany and Switzerland

Cited by 44 publications

References 54 publications

The current state of research on energy communities

The current state of research on energy communities

Building a Common Support Framework in Differing Realities—Conditions for Renewable Energy Communities in Germany and Bulgaria

The Regional Case for Disruptive Energy Policy: A Civic Energy Perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About