“Cooperatives of convenience” and corporate appropriation of Ontario's community renewable energy policy

Abstract

Community renewable energy initiatives often conjure images of grassroots movements and local activism. However, the reality is more complex. Recent studies have shown that private energy corporations are appropriating policy instruments reserved for community groups by forming initiatives that fit their organizational requirements. This paper presents the findings of a mixed-methods inquiry into corporate appropriation as it played out during Ontario's Feed-in Tariff program, specifically through its Community Capacity Set Aside stream. The quantitative portion of the study investigated the extent to which community renewable energy initiatives with private business origins benefited from the Community Capacity Set Aside. Semi-structured interviews with community renewable energy practitioners, representing initiatives of both community and private business origins, were conducted to reveal the perspectives of these actors on corporate presence in the sector. The findings show that 38 % of Community Capacity Set Aside contracts with an identifiable coop proponent were awarded to those with community origins, whereas the remaining 62 % were awarded to those initiated by private energy businesses. Leaders of initiatives with community origins expressed significant resentment towards the low levels of community rootedness and engagement shown by private business-led initiatives. This study highlights social origins as a significant factor in the formation of community renewable energy initiatives' purpose, processes, and community embeddedness. It also suggests that corporate appropriation of community renewable energy policies limit their energy democracy potential and should be averted through the inclusion of political purposes and community embeddedness in the qualification and evaluation criteria.