New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage

Abstract

Worldwide, the energy landscape is changing [...]

Islands as Playing and Breeding Grounds for Incumbents, Entrepreneurial Technologists, Policymakers, and Engaged Citizens: The Case of Energy Transition on Ameland

“…Based on the different operationalisations of citizen participation as discussed in the previous section, we investigate how local actors were involved in the transition process on Ameland. Based on the literature, we consider four potential roles of local actors and stakeholders: first, as agents in formal and informal policy and decision-making processes; second, as consumers; third, as designers or experimenters; and finally, as shareholders in cooperatives or other economic entities [12,55,58,59].…”

“…In The Netherlands, for example, 30 identified 'energy regions' must produce regional energy strategies while recently, municipalities have also had to develop plans to phase out heating by natural gas [9]. In Germany and the UK, there is also a strong trend to decentralise responsibility for renewable energy to local governments (municipalities) [10][11][12]. Third, local and regional communities are becoming increasingly involved in determining which transition pathway is most suitable in their locality or region.…”

“…Here, we find many bottom-up or grass-roots community energy transition initiatives, often striving for energy autarky, self-sufficiency, or CO 2 neutrality. In The Netherlands, there are more than 600 of these initiatives actively engaging in renewable energy projects, and this number continues to increase [12,13]. As in other countries, the innovative potential of these community energy initiatives is considerable; however, not all of these projects are integrated or aligned with existing energy networks or policies at higher spatial scales [14][15][16][17].…”

Towards a Just Energy Transition, Barriers and Opportunities for Positive Energy District Creation in Spain

“…The growth of LECs across Europe is no longer isolated to specific countries [18], and there is evidence to show that the number of LECs within the EU has dramatically increased since the Clean Energy for All Europeans package [19] was launched in 2019. Although the distribution of LECs across Europe remains uneven, they are established as important stakeholders in the energy systems of nations such as Germany and Denmark [20], whilst being in early development in others such as Spain, where a public consultation on LECs took place in December 2020 [21,22].…”

‘Luctor Et Emergo’, How a Community Energy Initiative Survived the Changing Policy and Technology Landscape of the Dutch Energy System?

“…Despite their high number, most of the organisations are relatively small and young. Yet, they need the ability to be partner in or independently develop large energy projects to play a substantial role in the forming renewable energy regime (Bauwens et al, 2022;Hufen & Koppenjan, 2015;Koirala et al, 2021;Sciullo et al, 2022;van Dam and van der Windt, 2022). Hence, there is a strong need to better understand how cooperatives can grow into long-term stable organisations that can deliver benefits to the community for lifespan of a renewable energy project, and ideally, beyond (van der Waal, 2020).…”