Outliers or Frontrunners? Exploring the (Self-) Governance of Community- Owned Sustainable Energy in Scotland and the Netherlands

Community owned renewable energy initiatives are the emergent and self-organized arrangements where communities become both producers and suppliers of energy. Cases of community energy developments form Texel (Netherlands), and Undy and Urgha (UK) are the empirical grounds that demonstrate this capacity. As highly desirable community owned renewable initiatives may seem, they face many enablers. However, they are also confronted with various tensions, as identified in this chapter. A closer look of the governance space in which these community initiatives operate, reveals that tensions and opportunities span from socio-cultural, political, and technological axes. These initiatives are both outliers and frontrunners of a sustainable energy transition: they create new forms of institutions, challenge even benefiting to them instruments, dare to uptake risks and seize opportunities, and operate outside demarcated institutional space. Community owned energy initiatives constitute a new form of local renewable energy governance that deserves to be explored.

[1]  Rob Raven,et al.  What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability , 2012 .

[2]  P. Devine‐Wright,et al.  Trust and community: Exploring the meanings, contexts and dynamics of community renewable energy , 2010 .

[3]  F. Moulaert,et al.  Social Economy, Third Sector and Solidarity Relations: A Conceptual Synthesis from History to Present , 2005 .

[4]  Tineke M. Egyedi,et al.  Inverse Infrastructures: Disrupting Networks from Below , 2012 .

[5]  S. Sorrell,et al.  Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for UKhouseholds , 2012 .

[6]  B. J. Rygg.  Wind power—An assault on local landscapes or an opportunity for modernization? , 2012 .

[7]  V. Pestoff.  Third sector and co-operative services — An alternative to privatization , 1992 .

[8]  Ortwin Renn,et al.  Rationales for Public Participation in Environmental Policy and Governance: Practitioners' Perspectives , 2011 .

[9]  A. Stirling.  “Opening Up” and “Closing Down” , 2008 .

[10]  Sarah C. Darby,et al.  Social learning and public policy: Lessons from an energy-conscious village , 2006 .

[11]  Jean Hillier,et al.  How could we study climate-related social innovation? Applying Deleuzean philosophy to Transition Towns , 2010 .

[12]  Geoff Whittam,et al.  The Third Sector and the Regional Development of Social Capital , 2008 .

[13]  G. Verbong,et al.  Governing the Energy Transition. Reality, Illusion or Necessity , 2012 .

[14]  Gill Seyfang,et al.  Growing Grassroots Innovations: Exploring the Role of Community-Based Initiatives in Governing Sustainable Energy Transitions , 2012 .

[15]  John Mumford,et al.  Consumer engagement in alternative energy—Can the regulators and suppliers be trusted? , 2010 .

[16]  Adrian Smith,et al.  Designing long-term policy: rethinking transition management , 2009 .

[17]  Steven M. Hoffman,et al.  From private lives to collective action: Recruitment and participation incentives for a community energy program , 2010 .

[18]  Robert Gross,et al.  Can premium tariffs for micro-generation and small scale renewable heat help the fuel poor, and if so, how? Case studies of innovative finance for community energy schemes in the UK , 2012 .

[19]  Gillian Irene Bristow,et al.  Acceptance, acceptability and environmental justice: the role of community benefits in wind energy development , 2011 .

[20]  C. Gross,et al.  Community perspectives of wind energy in Australia: The application of a justice and community fairness framework to increase social acceptance , 2007 .

[21]  V. Nikogosian,et al.  The impact of ownership on price-setting in retail-energy markets—The German case , 2012 .

[22]  Rocio A. Diaz-Chavez,et al.  Community-based renewable energy in the Lake District National Park – local drivers, enablers, barriers and solutions , 2012 .

[23]  Maarten Wolsink,et al.  Undesired reinforcement of harmful ‘self-evident truths’ concerning the implementation of wind power , 2012 .

[24]  O. Kuik,et al.  Local acceptance of renewable energy - A case study from southeast Germany , 2011 .

[25]  J. Voss,et al.  The Politics of Reflexive Governance: Challenges for Designing Adaptive Management and Transition Management , 2011 .

[26]  G. Seyfang,et al.  Grassroots innovations for sustainable development: Towards a new research and policy agenda , 2007 .

[27]  Emmanuel K. Yiridoe,et al.  Social license and consultation criteria for community wind projects , 2012 .