Abstract
This paper examines the relations between financing institutions and more local ownership structures for energy provision. This research defines municipal and civil society structures involved in energy provision as the ‘Civic Energy Sector’. It argues that the financial institutions of nations are key enabling institutions for this sector to contribute to a low carbon energy transition. The path of development of these financial institutions helps to shape the ownership structures and technology choices of energy systems and futures in different nations. This paper presents findings from case analysis comparing the United Kingdom’s latent civic energy sector, with the expansion of this sector in Germany. Using an institutional economics framing, the paper demonstrates the importance of the German local banking sector in facilitating civic ownership structures in that country. In contrast, the neo-liberal, market-led financial institutions in the UK, reinforce energy pathways less reliant on civic ownership models. Hence, the forms of low carbon energy transition being pursued in these countries are constrained by path dependence of institutions both within and beyond the energy sector.
Highlights
This paper explores the concept of a ‘civic’ energy sector, comprising citizen, community, co-operative and municipal ownership of energy systems
Whilst we do not argue for an incorporation of the municipal into civil society, we do argue that the ‘civic’ framing is a useful moniker for investigating the interplay of values, institutional form and energy system change
This paper has investigated the impact of civil society institutions on the energy sector in the UK and Germany, and their potential role in the energy system transitions underway in these countries
Summary
This paper explores the concept of a ‘civic’ energy sector, comprising citizen, community, co-operative and municipal ownership of energy systems The authors argue this is a useful classification for examining the role of institutions beyond the market and state in energy transitions. It is increasingly important to understand how financial institutions can enable civic energy participation, and how these interact with regulatory institutions, such as feed in tariff laws or portfolio standards, to constrain or incentivise different ownership forms. Previous research has examined the effects of different governance and institutional framings on national energy system transitions [1,12] As these system transitions are largely country-specific, this paper adopts a comparative case study of the emerging civic energy sectors in the UK, and Germany.
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