Community Energy Initiatives: wishful thinking or necessity?

1. Community Energy Initiatives: wishful thinking or necessity? Dr. Patrick Devine-Wright De Montfort University Presentation to the South East Renewable Energy Conference, November 4th 2004 Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

2. ‘Community’ + ‘Energy’ = ? • Recent upsurge in interest in ‘community energy’ • Programmes: Community Renewables Initiative; Community Action for Energy; Community Energy; Energy in the Community; Community Power; Energy 21; Clear Skies; Solar Clubs; Energy Champtions etc. • These vary according to role (capital grant vs. advice), sector (public, private, voluntary) and scale • Projects: Braunstone Solar Streets in Leicester; Concerto projects such as Bracknell Renaissance; Awelamantawe Community Wind Farm; Baywind; EcoDyfi; Findhorn; Sherwood Energy Village; BedZed • Characterised by: local scale; participatory processes; local benefit; renewables and energy conservation Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

3. It’s not a new idea! • Post Oil Crisis in 1970s, many questioned the social and environmental impacts of science and technology • E.F. Schumacher: Small is beautiful • Amory Lovins: Soft vs. Hard Energy Paths • UK: Centre for Alternative Technology: 1974-2004 • All questioned conventional energy approach • But more marginal than mainstream ….. Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

4. The mainstream ….. • Large-scale power stations • Centralised power supply with a ‘national grid’ of pylons and wires • State-led to market-led approaches (top-down) • Created a system that is fundamental to everyday life yet largely invisible to the public Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

5. Energy Transitions? • Many are questioning whether this centralised, large-scale system is ‘fit for purpose’ in the 21st century • Environmental: concerns of climate change and impact of carbon emissions • Social: Fuel poverty; NIMBYism (including opposition to nuclear and renewables such as wind turbines); wider concerns about communities and civic society • Economic: Low cost in the past, but prices are rising • Political: Security of supply - with the end of North Sea oil and gas, necessity to import fossil-fuels from distant, unstable states • Technological: reliability (grid failure); locked-in inefficiencies (70% losses); new technologies enabling distributed generation and ‘smart’ energy use (internet metering plus fuel cells, micro-chp) Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

6. Two visions of a low carbon future 1. Large-scale centralised generation and supply • New nuclear or renewable power stations (biomass power plants or wind farms with ‘industrial’ turbines) connected to the electricity transmission network • Hydrogen pipelines using existing gas grid 2. Smaller-scale distributed generation, supply and DSM • Solar PV and hot water panels on roofs • Small-scale wind farms or single turbines • CHP plants for large commercial buildings and homes • District heating systems and ‘minigrids’ for local distribution • More emphasis upon energy services and DSM • Fuel cells and local hydrogen storage Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

7. What about communities? • It is often assumed that smaller scale energy projects will be more community focused, yet in reality, neither of these options has a very explicit social dimension • Market-led approaches tend to treat energy as a commodity and the public as individualistic consumers • But people are also citizens interested in public goods as well as private benefit • And social beings as members of communities of interest and location • What role do citizens and communities have in shaping alternative energy futures? • Can energy technologies be used to reach social policy goals? (e.g. cohesive communities; employment, training and skills; health; social inclusion; participation and citizenship) • More basically, can a low carbon economy be achieved without also fostering a low carbon society? Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

8. Power to the people? • The Local Government Association, the Royal Commission on Environment and Pollution and the Countryside Agency have called for communities to be involved in energy planning and development; and more responsible for the environmental impacts of their energy use • Community energy is reflected in key policy documents such as the Energy White Paper and PPS 22, as well as initiatives such as the CRI, CAFÉ and Clear Skies • Energy White paper “the future energy system will require greater involvement from local communities …..increasing the deployment of renewables will depend on people supporting local projects” • PPS 22 “Local planning authorities, regional stakeholders and Local Strategic Partnerships should foster community involvement in renewable energy projects. Developers should engage in active consultation and discussion with local communities at an early stage in the planning process” • But will the rhetoric become reality or merely ‘motherhood and apple-pie’? Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

9. Suggested benefits… • Outcomes: • Locally appropriate development • Local income generation and new jobs • Greater public acceptance, less NIMBY opposition • Local and global environmental benefit • Process: • Training and skills • Greater public participation in planning • Local empowerment • Building partnerships • Targeting disadvantaged groups • Enhanced awareness of energy • Enhanced cohesiveness/pride in community Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

10. From margin to mainstream? • New discourse of ‘community energy’ • Public programmes supporting community participation • New institutional practices (e.g. stakeholder dialogue and deliberative workshops held prior to Energy White Paper) • New institutional structures such as community energy cooperatives, social enterprises and community ESCos • New individual roles such as community energy fieldworkers, energy champions and energy advocates • Calls for greater involvement and support from the public in energy planning and development • Calls for new institutions such as a ‘community energy unit’ in central government • But where do communities sit within market-led, centralised energy systems? Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

11. Models of Development (Powell and Geoghegan, 2004)

12. Two ‘mental models’ of the public (Devine-Wright et al., 2004) Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

13. Key Questions ….. • Why has community energy become popular? • How are different support programmes treating the issue of ‘community’? What ‘mental model’ is used? • What is a community energy project? How is it distinctive from market or state-led development? • Does the public support community energy? • How many community energy projects are there in the UK? • What contribution are they making to environmental, social and economic policy objectives? Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

14. But absence of evidence • Limited research on community energy • From Denmark, indication that involvement in co-operatives leads to greater public acceptance of renewables (Krohn and Damborg, 1999) • From the UK, some indication of public support for local involvement in wind energy (Devine-Wright, in press): • A partnership approach to development • Local supply of power • Sharing of profits within local community • Local ownership Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

16. But many gaps in evidence • What do we mean by community? • Communities of locality • Communities of interest • How is local involvement (bottom-up approach) best managed and achieved? • Do communities have the capacity to lead/partner energy schemes? • Do individuals have the time, skills, motivation and knowledge to get involved in energy issues? • Do institutions have the capacity to enable community energy schemes? • Is there evidence that community led development is more beneficial (e.g. lower costs; more acceptable; less environmental impact) than existing approaches? Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

17. Current projects at De Montfort • EPSRC Supergen Networks: • How does the public perceive and evaluate renewable energy coops? What motivates shareholding and public support? Can cooperatives enhance civic participation? • How is hydrogen for renewables being promoted and developed at the community level? How does this affect public acceptance? 2. EPSRC Braunstone Solar Streets: how do local perceptions of Solar PV evolve over time? Are there tensions between self and community benefits? How is a ‘community trust fund’ perceived by local people? Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

18. Current projects at De Montfort 3. ESRC Community Energy research project • Collaboration between De Montfort, Staffordshire and Northumbria universities • Programmes: why have community energy programmes recently emerged in the UK? How is the idea of ‘community’ interpreted? • Projects: How many are there? How diverse are they? What are their aims? To what extent are they being realised? • What generic lessons can be learnt? 4. Bracknell Renaissance Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development

19. For more information: www.iesd.dmu.ac.uk www.supergen-networks.org.uk www.staffs.ac.uk/iesr/communityenergy.htm Thank you pdwright@dmu.ac.uk Institute Of Energy And Sustainable Development