Development Of Community Energy Research Articles

Developing community energy systems to facilitate Ethiopia's transition to sustainable energy

In Ethiopia, renewable energy offers people an affordable, dependable, and eco-friendly power supply while decreasing the carbon footprint. However, delivering a renewable future for the country requires a massive change in social practices and systems of provision. The slow progress of renewable development is hindering the transition to a cleaner energy future. Over 80 % of people live in rural areas where it is expensive to reach them via grid networks in Ethiopia, requiring off-grid alternatives.Community energy systems, which are off-grid energy systems in which communities play a key role, offer alternative strategies to close the country's energy access gap. However, community energy systems remain underdeveloped in Ethiopia. There is a need to understand the opportunities for community energy and the barriers that hinder its development in Ethiopia, and their role in energy transitions.This paper adopts an experimental lens to understand the diverse dimensions of community energy projects through how they are made, maintained, and lived. Using a comparative analysis of three multi-method, qualitative case studies, this paper argues that the political context poses the biggest obstacle to the development of community energy in Ethiopia despite these projects' tangible benefits.The analysis indicates that community energy projects allow communities to be involved in all stages of project development. In every project, communities assume project management responsibilities after commissioning. However, these projects encounter challenges in resourcing capital, managing supply chains, and building necessary skills among community members to understand business models to ensure sustained operation of the systems.

The role of community energy systems to facilitate energy transitions in Ethiopia and Mozambique

AbstractPolicymakers and academics are focusing on energy transition to provide affordable, sustainable, and green energy for everyone. This is being driven by a combination of the lack of electricity access to millions of people particularly in the African continent and the requirement for the reduction of environmental impact through the use of greener energy resources and systems. This paper summarizes an interdisciplinary research program investigating community energy systems in Ethiopia and Mozambique to facilitate energy transitions. Specifically, it compares community energy landscapes, progress made, and existing challenges and opportunities. To determine the status of community energy development in the two countries, recent publications and official policies were reviewed, and community energy managers were interviewed. The review showed that renewable energy sources are the dominant focus for community energy developments, which is key to achieving a cleaner energy future. However, progress in community energy development has been slow in these countries. There are several reasons that hinder community energy systems from driving the necessary energy transition to a cleaner, modern, and affordable energy. Some of these reasons are the absence of favorable regulatory frameworks, incentive package, knowledge on business models, weak commitments from stakeholders, and insufficient community involvement. These issues vary in degree between the two countries.

Choosing wave energy devices for community-led marine energy development

As we pursue more justice and community driven renewable energy projects, more decision making is put in the hands of community leaders. Appropriate tools and resources are necessary for communities to determine what wave energy developer might fit their community needs and wave resource. While there are methods and tools for communities, researchers and wave energy developers to determine the wave resource or potential locations for wave energy development, we are lacking a tool to help communities take the next steps in pursuing wave energy.
 A community driven design process was undertaken in Sitka, AK, in conjunction with evaluating the local area for wave energy resource. The community had interest in wave energy development, a decent wave resource area accessible, and existing maritime expertise that could aid in operations and maintenance. Further, as a remote island, the community viewed alternative energy development positively as a way to achieve more energy independence. Still, in this community driven process, we identified a gap that while the community may be interested in a wave energy project, there was little data on which wave energy devices would be appropriate for the community and few tools to help them choose.
 This presentation will highlight questions that the participants from Sitka, AK still have after engaging in a community centered design process. We compare the requirements that the community prioritizes with the tools that researchers and developers have to evaluate those requirements, allowing assessment of whether these tools are useable and adequate for community use. We also show an analysis of a selection of current wave energy developers with some of the community focused factors and proposals for tools that may be useful in future community energy development. This research ultimately highlights what factors must be presented to a community for them to choose to pursue installation of a device.

Investigation of Community Energy Business Models from an Institutional Perspective: Intermediaries and Policy Instruments in Selected Cases of Developing and Developed Countries

Community energy development and the empowerment of customers as producers are the main contributors to decentralized market solutions in energy transition policy. Despite the growing literature on community energy projects from the perspectives of various business models, drivers, and barriers, few studies display the impact of institutional factors on the community energy business model configuration. Using insights from Ostrom’s institutional framework, this study develops a conceptual framework comprising policy instruments and the intermediaries that configure the various community energy business models, and it examines this framework in the developed world of northwestern European countries (Germany, Denmark, Belgium, and the UK) and in selected cases in developing countries (Rural Central America, South Africa, Iran, and Indonesia). The findings indicate that ambitious renewable energy consumption targets and national policies in northern EU countries have resulted in political and financial incentives, as well as greater financial security than other investment markets, which encourage citizens to contribute to the proliferation of community energy. On the other hand, in the studied developing countries, top-down energy policies and a centralized energy system are insufficient for participatory energy planning. Due to unsupportive policies, a lack of appropriate regulatory frameworks, and a lack of institutional support in these countries, the initiation of community energy projects requires the presence of intermediaries such as developers who work ‘in-between’ other actors, such as energy providers, users, or regulators.

Learning from Other Community Renewable Energy Projects: Transnational Transfer of Multi-Functional Energy Gardens from the Netherlands to Germany

Citizen energy in general and renewable energy communities (RECs) in particular are becoming key vehicles for decentralisation, but also for the democratisation of the energy system. These initiatives are now more diverse than ever and are likely to continue to act as incubators for significant projects in the transition to a renewable energy system. Beside the legal, regulatory, and financial challenges, there are several socio-economic and regulatory barriers that hinder the implementation of community energy projects. For this reason, policy learning and the dissemination of good/best practices that are transferable also to other contexts are important. This is an aspect that has not yet attracted much investigation, and only a few studies have explored the importance of transfer activities for the implementation of REC initiatives and their motives. This article aimed to address this knowledge gap by focussing on the transfer processes of best practices initiated in a particular region and discusses how these can be adapted and transferred to other contexts. We analysed the transfer case of a community renewable energy initiative, the multifunctional energy gardens, from the Netherlands to the German federal State of Thuringia, and extracted lessons with an overall validity for the transferability of drivers and success factors. We show how examples from other contexts with similar enabling conditions can represent significant foundations on which to build an effective strategy and what framework conditions are necessary to enhance the uptake of pervasive community energy initiatives in regions with low community energy development.

A Digital Support Platform for Community Energy: One-Stop-Shop Architecture, Development and Evaluation

In the European energy market, the community energy sector is earmarked to make a significant contribution to the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable sources. Based on the diffusion of innovation model, large-scale development of community energy requires that the concept and the success of existing energy communities be widely communicated to potential participants and that user confidence be developed over time. In this paper, we present the architecture, design, prototyping, and testing of a digital support platform, co-designed with EU-wide energy communities, to support this process. The platform has been designed to engage early-stage or ongoing groups to progress projects and to connect and share experiences with other communities. This “community of communities” creates the necessary communication channel defined in the Diffusion of Innovation model. A transactional architecture for such a platform is outlined with clear links to all community energy actors. Based on this architecture, a prototype one-stop-shop (OSS) implementation is presented. Feedback gathered and lessons learned from beta testing with a representative group of end-users are outlined. The OSS architecture shows potential as a communications channel to expand the community energy concept and as a monitoring tool to track the progress of the energy community sector.

Mainstreaming Community Energy: Is the Renewable Energy Directive a Driver for Renewable Energy Communities in Germany and Italy?

By 30 June 2021, EU Member States were expected to transpose the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) which includes provisions for renewable energy communities (RECs) and to develop an enabling framework to promote the development of RECs. Although there is a growing number of studies analysing the emergence of various forms of community energy, comparative studies investigating the transposition and creation of enabling frameworks for RECs in a multi-level governance (MLG) perspective are scarce. This article examines the transposition in Germany and Italy and compares elements of the respective enabling frameworks. Key methods include context and MLG analysis combined with methods of descriptive (legal) studies. Insights and participatory observations of the stakeholder desks established in the Horizon2020 project COME RES complement the spectrum of methods deployed. Although community energy development is more advanced in Germany, the transposition of the RED II provisions has been slow and piecemeal so far. Conversely, in Italy, RED II played a catalyst role; the transposition has been rather dynamic and encouraged a continuous growth of REC initiatives. Nevertheless, a widespread uptake of RECs requires structural adjustments of the governance system in both countries and attention to MLG as well as vertical policy coordination.

Ready for new business models? Human and social capital in the management of renewable energy cooperatives in Germany

Policy makers in various countries have made the development of community energy, especially in the form of a renewable energy cooperative (REC), a goal of energy policy. Weaknesses in qualifications of REC management teams have been identified by previous research as a barrier for the further development of RECs, especially when implementation of new business models is needed. Our study is the first to examine in detail the qualifications (human capital) and networks (social capital) of REC management; our data comes from online survey responses from 187 board members of 125 RECs in Germany. We analyzed how many RECs are planning to implement new business models, finding that less than half of the surveyed RECs are planning to do so. Those REC boards that are planning new business models will require skills in sales and marketing, but REC management has qualification weaknesses and gaps in their networks precisely in these two areas. RECs could remedy these problems by bringing onboard new management team members with complementary qualifications and networks, partnering with other RECs and organizations, and training management team members. Policy makers committed to community energy can support RECs through training programs and assistance in building partnership networks.

The Scottish experience in community energy development: A starting point for Chile

This study presents an overview of the relevant evidence available up to now regarding the Scottish experience in relation to the development of community energy projects. Scotland has a relevant number of community energy projects which are generating energy, improving the quality of life of communities through sustainable initiatives. This is the result of the implementation of successful policies to encourage community energy by the Scottish government (in comparison with other countries). On the contrary, the Chilean community energy sector is still incipient, despite some interest; public policies have been focused on fostering the concept of distributed generation. Chilean community energy developments have not been analysed in any detail; this paper is a first attempt to do so, and to derive lessons from the Scottish experience that can be useful to Chilean policy makers. We summarise and analyse the Scottish and Chilean community energy sectors and their developments. We further analyse the current Chilean net billing scheme using concepts from game theory, showing that it may not be the best support mechanism for citizen-led energy production developments. Based on these analyses, we define a list of policy recommendations for Chile, which can help further development in the community energy sector.

Transdisciplinary research methods in community energy development and governance in Indonesia: Insights for sustainability science

Community renewable energy can contribute to important social and environmental outcomes, and in less industrialised countries may be a means of achieving development priorities as well as climate mitigation goals. The complexity of such initiatives – involving regulatory, technological, financial, and governance issues – demands ways to integrate technical expertise, local cultural and environmental characteristics, and other relevant factors into development processes. This article reflects on a transdisciplinary project that investigated how renewable energy could be implemented to meet the needs and aspirations of rural and remote Indonesian communities. We discuss the sustainability science approach taken and how the transdisciplinary methodology was applied. The article addresses themes of language and communication, methods of knowledge production, legitimacy, planning and time management, and the role and impacts of social and technical disciplines in the research. The paper highlights specific challenges in these areas, and appropriate strategies to mitigate them. Our conclusions propose useful principles for this type of transdisciplinary work: preparation, common understandings, flexibility, shared responsibility, respect, and lightheartedness and humour. The manuscript identifies important empirical and methodological future research priorities, and offers insights to inform social research dimensions of applied research methods in the context of complex development initiatives and the multi-scale socio-economic and political systems in which they take place.

The Role of Intermediaries in Supporting Local Low-Carbon Energy Initiatives

Recent scholarly attention shows that grassroots civil society low-carbon energy initiatives increasingly become part of the subnational climate change governance landscape. Despite their potency in view of consumer-owned distributed generation and enhanced citizen influence in the organization of the energy infrastructure, local low-carbon energy initiatives (LLCEIs) struggle to become viable alternatives to the centralized, private oriented energy system. To further LLCEI development, support needs to build their capacities; alleviate institutional hurdles and barriers stemming from the fossil fuel-based energy regime; and open up the system for the uptake, acceptance or breakthrough of LLCEIs. Evidence suggests that so-called “intermediaries” form a part of the solution in addressing these issues. Despite previous attempts at analyzing intermediary roles and activities vis-à-vis the development of community energy, the reality of the various roles and strategies intermediaries can employ and the support LLCEIs require to further develop have not yet been synthesized in a comprehensive analytical framework. This article aims to fill this gap by developing such a framework. We reflect on the analytical framework by evaluating the intermediary support structure in a specific case: the Province of Fryslân. From the analysis, we conclude that the Frisian case provided modest support to the claim that intermediary support is effective in addressing the needs of LLCEIs as the strategies and roles observed represent a complete and coherent support structure.

The Scottish Experience in Community Energy Development: A Starting Point for Chile

This study presents an overview of the relevant evidence available up to now regarding the Scottish experience in relation to the development of community energy projects. Scotland has a relevant number of community energy projects which are generating energy, improving the quality of life of communities through sustainable initiatives. This is the result of the implementation of successful policies to encourage community energy by the Scottish government (in comparison with other countries). On the contrary, the Chilean community energy sector is still very incipient, despite some interest; public policies have been focused on fostering the concept of distributed generation. Chilean community energy developments have not been analysed in any detail; this paper is a first attempt to do so, and to derive lessons from the Scottish experience that can be useful to Chilean policy makers. We summarise and analyse the Scottish and Chilean community energy sectors and their developments. We further analyse the current Chilean net billing scheme using concepts from game theory, showing that it may not be the best support mechanism for community energy developments. Based on these analyses, we define a list of policy recommendations for Chile, which can help further development in the community energy sector.

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

The dominant model of energy infrastructure has historically been conceived in a very centralized fashion, i.e., with hardly any citizen involvement in energy generation. Yet, increasing attention is being paid to the transition process towards a more decentralized configuration. This article examines the factors likely to foster citizen and community participation as regards wind power cooperatives in Denmark, Germany, Belgium and the UK. Using Elinor Ostrom’s Social-Ecological System Framework, the analysis highlights a double-edged phenomenon: prevailing and growing hostility toward cooperatives, on the one hand, and, on the other, strategic reactions to this evolution. What comes out indeed is that, throughout most of these countries, the emergence of some coordinated inter-organizational actions among cooperatives enables them to survive in their critical environment.

Governing community energy—Feed-in tariffs and the development of community wind energy schemes in the United Kingdom and Germany

This paper analyses the development of community energy in the UK by comparing it to Germany in relation to decentralisation, scales and ownership structures particularly of wind energy. Varying approaches to energy generation at the community scale provide interesting insights into the impact of policy innovation as well as the capacity of national energy frameworks to foster socially innovative engagement practices beyond the purely technological diffusion of innovations. By examining interactions between technological and social innovations with the help of a qualitative analysis, opportunities for potential generators not traditionally engaged in energy generation to tap into these innovation systems are analysed. This paper suggests that greater commitment to diversification beyond the implementation of policy measures such as the feed-in tariff is required to provide communities with the capacity to develop new generation practices in terms of scale and ownership. The UK in particular is struggling to protect these new generation practices which allow communities to derive benefits facilitated by specific energy policy measures according to their potential. It concludes by indicating areas where niche protection might need to be expanded if community energy is to play a greater role in the UK′s ambitious transition to a low-carbon economy.

The Coal‐Corn Divide: Colliding Treadmills in Rural Community Energy Development

AbstractThe emergence of concerns about “peak oil,” the fallout from the Iraq War in terms of renewed calls for “energy security,” and the development of new technology to gain access to fossil fuels and gas long off‐limits because of economic and environmental concerns has led to a boom of multiple kinds of energy development in and around rural communities in the United States. This article uses the lens of treadmill‐of‐production and growth‐machine literature to understand these developments in south central Illinois, an area with rich farmland and a history of underground coal extraction. While this analysis finds the expected support from community elites for renewed coal extraction, despite health and environmental risks, we find that the farm community, concerned about damage to land critical for producing corn and beans, profitable at historical levels in part because of the biofuel boom, formed a strong opposition movement. In short, we find evidence of colliding treadmills of energy production. The findings have implications for the analysis of rural energy production in the United States and beyond.