The institutional space of community initiatives for renewable energy: a comparative case study of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark

Abstract

Background: Community initiatives for renewable energy are emerging across Europe but with varying numbers, success rates and strategies. A literature overview identifies structural, strategic and biophysical conditions for community success. Our analysis focuses on institutional structure, as we describe the variety between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, and place this within the institutional context of the policies, power structures and energy discourses of each country. Methods: We conducted a policy arrangements analysis with a series of semi-structured interviews, extensive content analysis of policy documents, media analysis and use of existing research, in a qualitative comparative analysis between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Results: We demonstrate that the (evolving) institutional configuration of the energy sector strongly influences the available space for community initiative development. Denmark has a traditionally civil society-friendly energy sector, although opportunities for communities have decreased following the scaling up of production facilities. The Netherlands knows a predominantly market-oriented institutional arrangement that leaves little space for communities, but the potential for community based energy is increasingly recognized. In Germany, the typically state-dominant Energiewende strategy creates a window of opportunity for community initiatives that fit within the state policy. Conclusions: We conclude that the institutional arrangement of the energy policy subsystem can both constrain or enable community energy projects. Decentralization appears to be one of the most important characteristics of the general institutional development and generally increases the institutional space for local (community) players. The alignment of discourses across government levels and actors is one of the important enabling features of an energy system, as it provides the stability and predictability of the system that enables communities to engage in renewable energy projects.

Energetic communities for community energy: A review of key issues and trends shaping integrated community energy systems

“…For example, in the Netherlands there are more than 500 initiatives for energy neutral, zeroemission or low carbon communities [1]. Several others are engaged in local generation as a business case to sell electricity to the national grid [45]. Similarly, there are more than 900 energy co-operatives in Germany.…”

“…Initiatives for ICESs are emerging across Europe but with varying numbers, success rates and strategies [45]. The diversity in success of these community initiatives have been attributed to prevailing structural, strategic and biophysical conditions.…”

“…The diversity in success of these community initiatives have been attributed to prevailing structural, strategic and biophysical conditions. Electricity market reforms together with favorable energy policy, such as feed-in tariffs in Germany have stimulated local initiatives promoting the production of clean energy by using local energy sources [45]. Over half of Germany's remarkable renewable energy portfolio is owned by citizens and farmers.…”

“…al. [45] analyzes the available institutional space for local energy systems in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. This study was performed by putting the local energy systems within the institutional context of the policies, power structures and energy discourses in each country.…”

Procedural justice and the implementation of community wind energy projects: A case study from South Yorkshire, UK

“…'Community'-led RE projects -including community wind energy projects -have emerged in the UK in last 15 years or so as an alternative mode of owning, managing and implementing wind energy schemes, distinct from the 'private-developer' ownership model that dominates in the UK and elsewhere (Oteman et al, 2014;Walker and Cass, 2007). What makes a RE project distinctly 'community' is somewhat fuzzy (Walker and Devine-Wright, 2008), with schemes varying in terms of their aims, form of legal ownership, governance processes and benefit-sharing arrangements (Becker and Kunz, 2014;Radtke, 2014;Rezaei and Dowlatabadi, 2016;Seyfang et al, 2013).…”