What drives the development of community energy in Europe? The case of wind power cooperatives

Bauwens, Thomas; Gotchev, Boris; Holstenkamp, Lars

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2015.12.016

Cited by 350 publications

(240 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Indeed, it has been argued that the participation of citizens in benefits and decision-making processes of RE projects may increase levels of societal acceptability of renewables, especially in the case of onshore (Bauwens, 2015;Maruyama et al, 2007) and offshore wind farms (Walker et al, 2014). Comparative research has shown that a high degree of citizen involvement in wind energy projects is positively correlated with high deployment rates (Bauwens et al, 2016;Toke et al, 2008). In the same perspective, while Mumford and Gray (2010) show evidence of a lack of trust from the public in conventional energy actors as far as the deployment of alternative energy in the UK is concerned, the implementation of decentralised RE installations need to be steered by trustworthy individuals and organisations rooted in local communities (Eyre, 2013;Walker et al, 2010).…”

Section: The Roles Of Community-based Initiatives In Speeding Up the mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…CRE initiatives have substantially contributed to RE deployment in several countries. In Denmark, over 150,000 households contributed to wind power financing as members of wind power cooperatives in 2002, and more than 80% of the installed wind turbines were owned by wind power cooperatives and single owners (Bauwens et al, 2016). Similarly, 46% of the total installed RE capacity in Germany in 2012 was owned by individuals, farmers or CRE initiatives (trend:research Gmb and Leuphana Universität; Yildiz et al, 2015).…”

Section: The Roles Of Community-based Initiatives In Speeding Up the mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this perspective, community renewable energy (CRE) initiatives seem promising. The concept of 'community energy' describes formal or informal citizen-led initiatives which propose collaborative solutions on a local basis to facilitate the development of sustainable energy technologies and practices (Bauwens et al, 2016;Seyfang et al, 2013;Walker and Devine-Wright, 2008). Gaining a better insight on the motivations of RE investors at the community level can help decision makers design more effective supporting policies to address these communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Explaining the diversity of motivations behind community renewable energy

2016

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Community-based renewable energy initiatives may be important actors in the transition toward low-carbon energy systems. In turn, stimulating investments in renewable energy production at the community level requires a better understanding of investors' motives. This paper aims to study the heterogeneity of motivations that drive individuals to participate in community renewable energy projects and the underlying explanatory factors behind this, as well as the implications for their level of engagement in initiatives. Based on quantitative data from an original survey conducted with two renewable energy cooperatives in Flanders, the statistical analysis shows that cooperative members should not be considered as one homogeneous group. Several categories of members with different motives and levels of engagement can be distinguished. This heterogeneity is explained by contrasts in terms of institutional settings, spatial patterns and attitudes to the diffusion of institutional innovations. Regarding policy implications, the findings suggest that this heterogeneity should be taken into account in designing more effective supporting policies to stimulate investments at the community level.The activation of social norms is also shown to be a promising mechanism for triggering investment decisions, although the implications of its interplay with economic incentives should be further explored.

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Section: The Roles Of Community-based Initiatives In Speeding Up the mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Roles Of Community-based Initiatives In Speeding Up the mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Explaining the diversity of motivations behind community renewable energy

2016

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“…Some studies explore individual motivations for participating in community energy initiatives [7,25,28]. Others investigate the impacts of structural factors, e.g., policies, on the success of community energy activities [1,3,29,30]. Although it is important to examine the impacts of individual factors on community energy initiatives, community energy also needs to be explored from a more comprehensive context because its success is context-dependent.…”

Section: Internal and External Context Related To Communities For Enementioning

confidence: 99%

A Community Energy Transition Model for Urban Areas: The Energy Self-Reliant Village Program in Seoul, South Korea

Kim

2017

Sustainability

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While community energy initiatives are on the rise, community actions for energy transition in Asian countries have rarely been studied. While it is difficult for community energy initiatives to develop spontaneously in Seoul, there are some success stories there. This study places these successes in context. It analyzes municipal documents, including unpublished materials from municipal meetings, in order to examine how the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) created enabling conditions for promoting community energy initiatives. This study also conducted interviews to explore unsolved issues related to the Energy Self-Reliant Village (ESV) program. The SMG encouraged collective action through financial, administrative, and informational support. Also, this study found that Seoul's ESV program fostered communities by raising the sense of locality and responsibility and community spirit through various educational programs. The ESV program supported the continuity of community by providing guidelines that relieved the burden on community members. The SMG played a significant role in promoting community engagement in energy transition by affecting internal and external conditions. This study provides meaningful insights that other municipalities, especially large urban areas, can follow to foster community actions for energy transition.

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“…Recent studies argue for framing energy systems as SESs (Hodbod and Adger 2014;Bauwens et al 2016). Production, distribution and consumption activities within energy systems involve interactions between, on the one hand, ecological processes and technological artefacts and, on the other, social practices and systems of institutional rules.…”

Section: Energy Systems As Social-ecological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polycentric Governance Approaches for a Low-Carbon Transition: The Roles of Community-Based Energy Initiatives in Enhancing the Resilience of Future Energy Systems

Bauwens

2017

Complex Systems and Social Practices in Energy Transitions

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An understanding of the resilience of energy systems is critical in order to tackle forthcoming challenges. This chapter proposes that the polycentric governance perspective, developed by Vincent and Elinor Ostrom, may be highly relevant in formulating policies to enhance the resilience of future energy systems. Polycentric governance systems involve the coexistence of many selforganized centers of decision making at multiple levels that are formally independent of each other, but operate under an overarching set of rules. Given this polycentric approach, this chapter studies the roles of community-based energy initiatives and, in particular, of renewable energy cooperatives, in enhancing the institutional resilience of energy systems. In this perspective, the chapter identifies three major socio-institutional obstacles, which undermine this resilience capacity: the collective action problem arising from the diffusion of sustainable energy technologies and practices, the lack of public trust in established energy actors and the existence of strong vested interests in favor of the status quo. Then, it shows why the development of community-based energy initiatives and renewable energy cooperatives may offer effective responses to these obstacles, relying on many empirical illustrations. More specifically, it is argued that communitybased energy initiatives present institutional features encouraging the activation of social norms and a high trust capital, therefore enabling them to offer effective solutions to avoid free riding and enhance trust in energy institutions and organizations. The creation of federated polycentric structures may also offer a partial response to the existence of vested interests in favor of the status quo. Finally, some recommendations for policymakers are derived from this analysis. This paper is an author post-print version of a book chapter published with Springer.Please cite as follows: Bauwens, T. (2017). 'Toward polycentric low-carbon transition: The roles of community-based organizations in enhancing the resilience of energy systems'.

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What drives the development of community energy in Europe? The case of wind power cooperatives

Cited by 350 publications

References 36 publications

Explaining the diversity of motivations behind community renewable energy

Explaining the diversity of motivations behind community renewable energy

A Community Energy Transition Model for Urban Areas: The Energy Self-Reliant Village Program in Seoul, South Korea

Polycentric Governance Approaches for a Low-Carbon Transition: The Roles of Community-Based Energy Initiatives in Enhancing the Resilience of Future Energy Systems

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