Abstract
Micro- and small-scale low-carbon energy generators embedded within villages, towns and cities can provide a valuable income stream for local communities among other potential benefits. There are a range of social, political, technical and environmental factors that may impact upon the success of a planned energy generation project; however, these factors are rarely considered in unison. The aim of this research is to investigate and understand the concerns relating to equity and distributional justice that impact upon local groups interested in developing energy projects and to determine whether a whole systems approach can be used to draw out perceived issues. This has been achieved by working with two small village groups to test a newly developed energy equity assessment tool. This paper reports research findings from two villages in the UK both planning energy projects that intended to benefit their respective villages and examines perceived issues relating to equity and distributional justice associated with the proposed schemes. The research highlights some challenges facing community groups when planning micro- and small-scale energy projects and demonstrates the commitment, tenacity and high levels of personal risk that these groups have to bear in order to bring their projects to fruition and comments as to the type of actions that may be required to more wholly consider equity issues while developing future energy policy.
Highlights
Distributed micro- and small-scale low-carbon energy generation is acknowledged to have an important role in the future energy mix while contributing to the low-carbon transition as envisaged by the UK government (DTI 2003, 2006)
Competition from developers, the availability of grant funding and the potential for income generation from FiTs are some reasons why local groups of people are becoming empowered to develop energy projects: There is money available from government via FiTs and Oakenshaw village should wholly benefit from it rather than a developer who may not share profits with us. (Oakenshaw Informant 1) If we are subsidising FiTs through our bills we may as well get something back. (Oakenshaw Informant 2). These insights reflect the findings of Devine-Wright et al (2007) in that community energy projects are linked with temporally and spatially immediate needs
Time taken between commencement of works and commissioning means that groups developing a local energy project start to incur costs risking lower returns than anticipated should FiT structures change prior to commissioning: The biggest risk to our project is posed by changes to or removal of FiTs during the construction period prior to commissioning. (Oakenshaw Informant 1) We need assurance from government or the ability to insure against losses associated with undertaking this type of project. (Witton Park Informant 1) Who knows what the benefits will be? An income stream after 10 years? (Witton Park Informant 3)
Summary
Distributed micro- and small-scale low-carbon energy generation is acknowledged to have an important role in the future energy mix while contributing to the low-carbon transition as envisaged by the UK government (DTI 2003, 2006). It could reduce the estimated 17% of UK carbon dioxide emissions attributed to the domestic sector (DECC 2011). The use of micro- and small-scale distributed energy generation systems with outputs ranging. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted
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