The impact of systemic factors on the deployment of cooperative projects within renewable electricity production – An international comparison

Abstract

While cooperative organizations created with the aim to initiate, develop, and operate renewable electricity (RE) projects have received attention for their roles in the transition to a sustainable energy system, the disparities in the number of RE cooperative projects among countries suggest that institutional contexts may have an impact on their deployment. In order to systematically identify the systemic factors that impact their deployment, we use an established framework, considering the strengths and weaknesses in market structure, infrastructures, institutions, interactions, and capabilities. We compare the deployment context in Germany, France, and Sweden in order to understand which systemic factors have an impact and how they affect RE cooperative projects. Based on a review of the literature and qualitative interviews with experts in RE cooperatives, it appears that, although RE cooperative projects share some obstacles with most new entrants of RE, they are particularly exposed to a lack of financial infrastructure, a lack of knowledge and interactions, and problems related to a lack of regulatory frameworks facilitating their deployment. Results also show that systemic factors are complementary and dependent on each other: lowering one barrier lowers other barriers, and some obstacles strengthen other obstacles. Drawing on the comparison among Germany, France, and Sweden, we highlight some interesting practices that could be used in the coordination and alignment of systemic conditions for the deployment of RE cooperative projects.

Municipalities as intermediaries for the design and local implementation of climate visions

“…Examples such as the Transition Towns movement (Bulkeley, Broto, & Edwards, 2012) or of community initiatives to develop wind power projects in different European countries (e.g. Mignon & Rüdinger, 2016;Pesch, Spekkink, & Quist, 2019) illustrate how bottom-up initiatives can emerge which become part of the municipal operationalization of national/international visions.…”

The challenging paradigm of interrelated energy systems towards a more sustainable future

“…They can be identified within the boundaries set by systemic factors (as classified in ref. [158]) that define the electricity market and renewable energy landscape in the countries where they operate.…”

“…Finally, and most importantly, the stability of political and financial renewable energy support policy schemes is identified as paramount factor for the success of CRE projects, most prominently for the development of new initiatives. The 2014 reform of the German renewable energy act, for example, resulted in a significant decrease in the formation of renewable energy cooperatives in the country, dropping to 29 new cooperatives in 2014, as opposed to 194 newly registered in the country in 2011 [158].…”

Development of corporate associations of construction industrial enterprises and subjects of financial and credit environment by financial infrastructure merging

“…The other three forms relate to the domestic financial infrastructure and relationships defined within the corporation [20]. Financial institutions that have these types of relationships are part of the corporate association, and can become a financial and management center under certain conditions.…”