Ready for new business models? Human and social capital in the management of renewable energy cooperatives in Germany

Herbes, Carsten; Rilling, Benedikt; Holstenkamp, Lars

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112417

Cited by 30 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…However, it should be noted that the gender distribution on boards in energy communities is unequal. In a survey by Radtke (2014), about 80% of board members were male [33] Herbes et al ( 2021) state in their study that 94% of the board members they surveyed were male [48]; this is also reflected in the sample of our survey. A guiding questionnaire was developed to answer the research questions on the success factors of CECOs.…”

Section: Empirical Studymentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Integrated electricity and heat supply for an entire neighbourhood, for instance, is already the most complex thing CECOs can offer [I7:2]. Herbes et al ( 2021) also describe in their work that CECOs tend to use less complex models when looking for new business models [48].…”

Section: Low Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The CECOs often work with volunteer boards (cf. [48]). This frequently makes it difficult to find committed people who will do this volunteer work in their spare time [I1 :31].…”

Section: Find and Support Committed Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the past, too little emphasis was placed on the disciplines of marketing and public relations. Herbes et al (2021) state that these management skills are core competences that are of great importance for future business models [48]. One solution can be to extend the networks to environmental and climate movements (e.g., FridaysForFuture) [I8:7, I3 :22].…”

Section: Find and Support Committed Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Success factors of citizen energy cooperatives in north western Germany: a conceptual and empirical review

Ahlemeyer¹,

Griese²,

Wawer³

et al. 2022

Energ Sustain Soc

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Background Citizen energy cooperatives (CECOs) are an important element for realising the transformation of the European energy system from a central system, dominated by a few market players to a decentralized system with the participation of many citizens, in which energy supply is largely based on renewable energy sources. This article identifies success factors that ensure a working organization that is capable of implementing projects to support the energy transition and improving the well-being of citizens. Methods The aim of this study is to identify success factors using the example of CECOs in north western Germany through a two-step process. The first step is a literature review to identify success factors of CECOs. Second, 12 semi-structured expert interviews with managers of CECOs are conducted and evaluated by means of a qualitative content analysis. The interviews identified the success factors and barriers of CECOs. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The coding process was carried out using a qualitative data analysis software (ATLAS.ti 8.4.5,). Results The results show that three factors particular should be present, but can influence each other, to lead to successful CECOs: (1) the CECOs require business models with low complexity, as business models that span different stages of the value chain can overwhelm organizational managers. (2) Committed key individuals must be found and promoted. They need the support of the members. (3) Social and ecological principles are the core values of CECOs. The maintenance and strengthening of social–ecological credibility must be promoted in the public perception. Conclusions The results show that CECOs emerge from a strong social cohesion in a society. In addition, local "key individuals" need to be identified and supported. To this end, the framework conditions (e.g., policy, legislation, municipal support, etc.) must be adapted in such a way that these "key individuals" in CECOs are not overburdened. The analysis of the interviews also revealed that political or regulatory barriers are often cited as obstacles to the implementation of community energy projects.

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Section: Empirical Studymentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Low Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The CECOs often work with volunteer boards (cf. [48]). This frequently makes it difficult to find committed people who will do this volunteer work in their spare time [I1 :31].…”

Section: Find and Support Committed Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Find and Support Committed Individualsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Success factors of citizen energy cooperatives in north western Germany: a conceptual and empirical review

Ahlemeyer¹,

Griese²,

Wawer³

et al. 2022

Energ Sustain Soc

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“…In many cases, citizens and local governments collaborate and form specific governance arrangements to plan and implement climate action (Hoff & Gausset, 2016;Pitt & Congreve, 2017;Tosun & Schoenefeld, 2017). One example is citizens' renewable energy cooperatives established by local communities to promote the production and consumption of renewables (Herbes et al, 2021;Park & Yun, 2021;Tosun et al, 2019;Yildiz et al, 2015). Citizens' assemblies are another example; they bring together randomly selected representatives of the population to deliberate on climate policy solutions (Devaney et al, 2020a;Devaney et al, 2020b).…”

Section: Types Of Climate Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing climate change through climate action

Tosun

2022

Clim Action

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This editorial introduces the journal Climate Action to its audience and defines its aims and scope. It first calls for the need to understand climate action as the choices and behavior of international organizations, governments, civil society, businesses, and individuals. Next, it discusses both the facilitators and impacts of climate action. The editorial concludes with a research agenda for climate action to be studied from a transdisciplinary perspective with practitioners for triggering widespread societal transformation.

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