Community-engaged renewable energy deployment: a strategic niche management perspective

ABSTRACT This article explores emergent practice in renewable energy adoption supporting the pursuit of UN Sustainable Development Goal 7, to ‘Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.’ A Strategic Niche Management (SNM) model is adapted to interpret a complex web of activities being undertaken in seven Australian longitudinal case studies. The SNM model was developed to better reflect the evolutionary and strong collaborative nature of the observed entrepreneurial practice. A combination of an interactive SNM model and PESTLE analysis helps to provide an explanation in different settings incorporating a theoretical feedback loop. We conclude that community engagement is helping to deliver targeted renewable energy outcomes in the pursuit of UN SDG7 outcomes through collaborative actions being taken at an enterprise project level. Advice is included for practitioners following the renewable energy deployment path articulated.