The past, present and uncertain future of community energy in Denmark: Critically reviewing and conceptualising citizen ownership

Abstract

Important progress has been made in the understanding of citizen ownership. However, confusion persists about distinct characteristics of different models and particularly about the concept of community energy. Moreover, quantitative understanding of the contribution of citizen ownership to energy transitions is limited. This study advances the knowledge of citizen ownership by describing the empirical characteristics of citizen ownership of wind turbines and district heating systems in Denmark in the period of 1975-2016. The methods comprise statistical analysis, literature review and contact to experts in order to identify, quantify, describe and categorise Danish citizen ownership models. The results show the significant importance of citizen ownership to investment in and implementation of decentralised sustainable energy technologies. Modifications of institutional incentives have led to multiple and diverse citizen ownership models, whose main distinctive characteristics are related to geographical scope, type of profits and distribution of benefits. This observation is valid also for other countries, which makes the citizen ownership categories developed in this study relevant for international research on the topic.