Energy Cooperatives: Socially Innovative Cooperative Enterprises in the Spanish Renewable Energy Industry

Abstract

In this work, an exploratory investigation is carried out into socially innovative initiatives with renewable energies in Spain in order to identify projects which combine renewable energy generation with democratic and equitable management and property ownership. The investigation was carried out by creating a group of search terms that could be used on an Internet search engine to query existing databases in Spain. A structured online questionnaire was then made available to the person in charge of communication at each of the active energy cooperatives. The questionnaire consisted of blocks of questions about different areas, which were ecological objectives, social objectives and the funds used for these objectives. The objective is to provide empirical evidence on the peculiarities of national businesses in this type of cooperatives, in order to find the social dimension of these social enterprises in the fourth sector. Energy cooperatives in Spain are social organizations which primarily supply community energy. Spanish energy cooperatives can be included into the fourth sector of the economy because of the service provided to society by helping the public and creating tangible results whilst being a social enterprise with a commitment to social impact. Spanish energy cooperatives positively combine ecological and social aims with economic goals.