{"title":"可再生能源社区:管理能源转型的民主合法代理人?","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2024.103732","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>It is crucial that the energy transition enfolds democratically, to increase its legitimacy and improve its outcomes. Although practitioners and scholars increasingly point to renewable energy communities (RECs) as legitimate agents for governing a democratic energy transition, RECs' democratic practices are poorly understood, which challenges assumptions about their legitimacy. We therefore analyzed how and to what extent democratic legitimacy is being pursued and met by RECs in their governance of renewable energy generation projects. Our comparative case study examined four different RECs in Utrecht, The Netherlands. We found that three out of the four studied RECs broadly meet the principles of energy democracy in the initial, developing and implementation phase of their energy generation projects. Significant differences between principles and RECs were found, which refutes the simplistic general assumption that RECs are either fully democratically legitimate or are not democratically legitimate at all. In reality, RECs face several trade-offs between democratic principles, which arise from the different legitimacy needs related to the REC's stage of maturity and the type of energy source it uses. To overcome these trade-offs and uphold legitimacy internally as well as with various stakeholders, RECs strategically organize participation and decision making in different governance spaces and prioritize certain specific legitimacy principles over others. Combining the concepts of energy democracy and democratic legitimacy has brought novel theoretical insights to the fore, and we recommend other researchers to further bridge these distinct but related fields of study.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003232/pdfft?md5=01e860d736954e9ed66930453a4c30f1&pid=1-s2.0-S2214629624003232-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Renewable energy communities: Democratically legitimate agents in governing the energy transition?\",\"authors\":\"\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.erss.2024.103732\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><p>It is crucial that the energy transition enfolds democratically, to increase its legitimacy and improve its outcomes. Although practitioners and scholars increasingly point to renewable energy communities (RECs) as legitimate agents for governing a democratic energy transition, RECs' democratic practices are poorly understood, which challenges assumptions about their legitimacy. We therefore analyzed how and to what extent democratic legitimacy is being pursued and met by RECs in their governance of renewable energy generation projects. Our comparative case study examined four different RECs in Utrecht, The Netherlands. We found that three out of the four studied RECs broadly meet the principles of energy democracy in the initial, developing and implementation phase of their energy generation projects. Significant differences between principles and RECs were found, which refutes the simplistic general assumption that RECs are either fully democratically legitimate or are not democratically legitimate at all. In reality, RECs face several trade-offs between democratic principles, which arise from the different legitimacy needs related to the REC's stage of maturity and the type of energy source it uses. To overcome these trade-offs and uphold legitimacy internally as well as with various stakeholders, RECs strategically organize participation and decision making in different governance spaces and prioritize certain specific legitimacy principles over others. Combining the concepts of energy democracy and democratic legitimacy has brought novel theoretical insights to the fore, and we recommend other researchers to further bridge these distinct but related fields of study.</p></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":48384,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Energy Research & Social Science\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":6.9000,\"publicationDate\":\"2024-08-29\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003232/pdfft?md5=01e860d736954e9ed66930453a4c30f1&pid=1-s2.0-S2214629624003232-main.pdf\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Energy Research & Social Science\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"96\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003232\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"经济学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy Research & Social Science","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624003232","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
Renewable energy communities: Democratically legitimate agents in governing the energy transition?
It is crucial that the energy transition enfolds democratically, to increase its legitimacy and improve its outcomes. Although practitioners and scholars increasingly point to renewable energy communities (RECs) as legitimate agents for governing a democratic energy transition, RECs' democratic practices are poorly understood, which challenges assumptions about their legitimacy. We therefore analyzed how and to what extent democratic legitimacy is being pursued and met by RECs in their governance of renewable energy generation projects. Our comparative case study examined four different RECs in Utrecht, The Netherlands. We found that three out of the four studied RECs broadly meet the principles of energy democracy in the initial, developing and implementation phase of their energy generation projects. Significant differences between principles and RECs were found, which refutes the simplistic general assumption that RECs are either fully democratically legitimate or are not democratically legitimate at all. In reality, RECs face several trade-offs between democratic principles, which arise from the different legitimacy needs related to the REC's stage of maturity and the type of energy source it uses. To overcome these trade-offs and uphold legitimacy internally as well as with various stakeholders, RECs strategically organize participation and decision making in different governance spaces and prioritize certain specific legitimacy principles over others. Combining the concepts of energy democracy and democratic legitimacy has brought novel theoretical insights to the fore, and we recommend other researchers to further bridge these distinct but related fields of study.
期刊介绍:
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers.
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.