 Your new post is loading...
A just transition away from fossil fuels and to community-centered solar and wind energy is the way to deal with climate change
The ongoing energy transition brings new opportunities for utilisation of distributed energy resources (DER) and for the evolution in the role of end-users from passive consumers to active customers, who both produce and consume energy.
L’énergie citoyenne se développe doucement en France. Mais l’État doit donner plus de visibilité et de moyens à ces projets portés et financés par des citoyens.
The role of the prosumer within the European energy transition is becoming more of a priority from all angles. And while this is being recognised by European policy – packages such as REPowerEU and the Green Deal for example provide a lot of momentum to advance energy communities and reap their potential benefits – more is certainly needed.
Edinburgh, Scotland. On the rocky western coast of the remote Scottish island of North Uist, a link in the Outer Hebrides archipelago, loom two 250-foot-tall (76 meter) onshore wind turbines with a…
As energy bills climb and fears grow that consumers will become unable to heat their homes, some are pointing to the EU’s newly-created “citizen energy communities” as a way of enabling entire neighbourhoods to produce their own electricity or insulate homes.
This briefing authored by Bankwatch and REScoop.eu aims to explain the concept of energy communities and their societal benefits. It specifically targets national managing authorities of Cohesion Funds. It also provides an overview of the EU legal definitions for energy communities, the barriers to their development, recommendations on how to support them and examples of energy communities in Central- and Eastern Europe.
The research shows that the most significant barrier slowing the development and scaling of both new and existing energy communities is the lack of accessible, targeted and consistent funding and financing. Government Programmes and grant support instruments are essential and needed in the early stages of setting up and developing energy communities. Cohesion funds can support this initial phase of energy communities, allowing them to develop sustainable business models. We encourage Member States to utilize this source of funding to create strong enabling frameworks for community energy.
n Dornbirn, citizens bought up all the municipally-issued shares in a photovoltaic project in just 10 days
Today, local authorities in Dornbirn, Austria, announced that all the shares in the city’s new photovoltaic project were sold in just 10 days. The project will involve setting up solar panels on municipal buildings like fire stations, schools and kindergartens, which will be financed through small scale citizen-driven investment.
The project also aims at helping people who lack the means to set up a solar farm themselves get in on the green energy transition. The new solar energy system should work to reach the city’s 2030 climate goals to triple sustainable energy production.
Tribune. Par l’adoption d’un arrêté censé doper les installations de production d’énergie photovoltaïque, la France vient de porter le coup de grâce aux centaines d’initiatives collectives de production d’énergie solaire, portées par des groupes d’habitants et de collectivités. Cet arrêté transcrit de façon restrictive une disposition européenne et interdit le cumul des aides de l’Etat (le tarif garanti d’achat de l’électricité), d’une part, et des collectivités locales, d’autre part (souvent des subventions régionales). Pourtant, la combinaison des subventions locales et du tarif d’achat est vitale pour les projets solaires citoyens, installation sur de petites toitures de bâtiments publics impliquant des normes de sécurité (écoles, gymnases, etc.) supplémentaires. Ces aides complémentaires sont d’autant plus indispensables dans la moitié nord de la France et les territoires de montagne : l’équilibre économique des projets y est plus difficile à atteindre du fait du moindre ensoleillement, ce qui pénalise les collectivités souhaitant contribuer directement à une transition énergétique locale, mobilisatrice et durable.
We spoke to Melani Furlan, community energy expert from ZEZ, about the company’s pioneering shift from startup to scaleup, as well as the opportunities and challenges they have faced.
Zelena energetska zadruga (ZEZ) is a renewable energy cooperative and social enterprise based in Zagreb, Croatia. Our mission is to empower local communities through the utilisation of local resources. We encourage them to become and feel more in control, produce and consume their own energy, and make a positive impact – in terms of environment, climate change, local economy, resilience.
Citoyens et collectivités locales sont une clé de l’accélération du déploiement des renouvelables dans les territoires. Mais bien des verrous restent à lever.
To achieve decarbonisation and increase the use of RES, the future energy system will need to be more citizen-oriented, and will be based not only on sophisticated control, but also on final user awareness. In the building sector, technology can be an enabler for energy communities to provide new services and support user engagement and participation in the energy transition.
The Energy Community concept lays the foundation for the formalisation of this role. However, it is important to mention that the legislative framework for energy communities may evolve with the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive, expected in July 2021 and with the implementation at the national level.
French citizens’ cooperative EnerCit’if aims to install 14 solar power plants in Paris before the end of the year, a project that is being seen as an opportunity to boost citizen participation in the city’s energy transition.
|
Massilia Sun System a lancé une nouvelle centrale électrique solaire sur le toit de la Cartonnerie à la Friche la Belle de Mai. C'est le quatrième projet d
Lynmouth Road, Walthamstow is about to become its own power station, with solar energy for 30 homes. Now the artists responsible want us all to change how we heat our homes. By Anna Fielding
Local community groups are often seen as being against renewable energy sites or other projects to support the energy transition. But there is a rise in different ownership and funding models that includes local residents who do want to support the quest for a decarbonised economy
Energy communities can make an enormous contribution to climate goals but their efficiency and effectiveness can be boosted, smartEn advises.
With the power not only to counter climate change but also bringing considerable environmental, economic, and social benefits – the number of renewable energy communities and cooperatives in Europe is increasing. In central and eastern Europe, however, prospective energy communities have to overcome significant odds – with a lack of support and investment at the national level. EU-level rhetoric will have to be backed up by real commitments if the targets to boost such projects are to be met.
This report develops a sociotechnical understanding of energy prosumerism to investigate how energy prosumerism can lead to actual reductions of energy and resource demand. The report starts out by explaining what a sociotechnical and broad understanding of prosumerism means. Thereafter, the report summarises already existing research on energy social science and humanities relating to renewable energy generation, domestic energy use, and energy communities. The report then delves into the matter of energy sustainability by explicating the concept of sufficiency and achieving actual reductions instead of continued escalations of energy use. The report concludes with the main findings that a broader and more nuanced understanding of energy prosumerism can provide a novel conceptualisation relating to energy provision and everyday life that can lead to future reductions in energy use, as well as a more multifaceted policy response that moves away from business as usual and towards more variegated and radical propositions for achieving sustainable energy use in the future.
Renewable energy communities involve groups of citizens, social entrepreneurs, public authorities, and community organisations participating directly in the energy transition by jointly investing in, producing, selling, and distributing renewable energy. Beyond the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, there are many benefits for the communities involved, including economic development, the creation of new jobs, cheaper energy, self-sufficiency, community cohesion, and energy security. Regional authorities can support the emergence of energy communities by providing financing, expertise, and advice, and ensuring that regulatory issues can be easily understood and navigated.
Il ruolo delle Comunità energetiche nello sviluppo sostenibile e l'esperienza del Comune di Modena, che ha Avviato il progetto per la creazione della prima Comunità Energetica virtuale dell’Emilia-Romagna
A community trust is an organisation of local residents who have come together around a specific project. Examples include the purchase of land or disused public buildings by a community, the creation of a community growing space, or the set-up of a renewable energy project (often wind turbines). The trusts have a common aim of working towards the sustainable development of the community.
A growing energy justice literature underlines that complex energy injustices in energy transition disproportionally affect vulnerable and energy-poor households. Literature and policies discuss renewable energy communities’ (RECs) potential to enable citizen participation in energy transition and shape a just transition. Low-income and energy-poor households could benefit from granting access to affordable energy tariffs and energy efficiency measures when participating in RECs. Recent EU legislation highlights RECs’ social role in energy poverty alleviation and stipulates the participation of all social groups in RECs, especially those groups that are underrepresented under RECs’ members. In this light, the energy justice framework is increasingly applied to analyse RECs’ social contributions in different countries. Still, empirical evidence of RECs’ capacity to include underrepresented and vulnerable groups and mitigate energy poverty as a particular form of energy justice remains scarce. Drawing on data collected among 71 European RECs, our exploratory research investigates how RECs engage in this social role by improving participatory procedures to enable vulnerable groups’ participation and by distributing affordable energy and energy efficiency to vulnerable households. Using the energy justice framework, we explore how RECs resonate with the three energy justice tenets (distributive, recognitional and procedural) by addressing underrepresented groups and energy poverty.
Community Energy State of the Sector 2021 State of the Sector is the most comprehensive dataset about the community energy sector in the UK. State of the Sector 2021 report finds that: - Community energy is playing a crucial role in achieving net zero by gaining consent, increasing participation and embedding behaviour change.
- With the removal of subsidies and other financial support, there has been a shift in the sector away from electricity generation projects, with organisations are refocussing on a whole system approach.
- Communities have demonstrated significant perseverance and ingenuity and are determined to take action on climate change, despite a lack of UK strategic, financial and political support.
- An engaged energy citizenry will be necessary for achieving net zero and we are calling in this report for the government to get behind this populist movement, and provide real, demonstrable support for the sector.
Germany’s push to replace conventional power with renewables like wind and solar PV has not only altered its energy system and shaken up established energy utility giants, it has also turned millions of Germans into electricity producers. Citizens’ engagement and the appeal of independence and “energy democracy” are a reason Germans have strongly supported the energy transition despite higher power prices. But after 20 years, feed-in payments that first incentivised renewable power installations are ending, threatening to make these early adopters bystanders again. At the same time, it has been difficult for citizen energy groups to compete against bigger bidders in the government’s new auction system that sets remuneration for wind and solar parks, experts warn.
|
Scoop.it!
