News & Articles on Community Power
Developing renewable energy on the scale needed to make the energy transition will require public acceptance. Unlike nuclear power, where society can force a single plant on a community for the benefit of society at large, renewable energy will have to become ubiquitous in our communities and on our landscapes. This can only be possible when the majority accept this transformation. Experience has taught that acceptance is greatest when neighbors and the community at large can participate in the renewable energy revolution. The beauty of renewable energy is that everyone can take part–and own a stake in their future–when given an opportunity to do so. The challenge is creating the policies that make this possible, whether it’s for a community wind project or a solar garden.
How big can a community wind farm be?
By
Craig Morris
A few weeks ago, 360 German citizens completed and 82.3 MW wind farm consisting of 24 wind turbines. The project even included a transformer station, which the community project financed completely on its own.
Spreading the model of renewable energy cooperatives
By
In Germany, citizen cooperatives have long been investing in the production of renewable energies and some are now looking at how to buy back the energy grid from the energy companies. They failed to do so in Berlin, but have succeeded in Hamburg, creating a new business model that many other countries would like to emulate.
Boell: Few new German energy co-ops in 2014
By
Craig Morris
Last summer, the umbrella organization for German energy cooperatives announced that the willingness of energy cooperatives to make further investments in the current year had already fallen from 92 percent in 2013 to 70 percent in 2014. The number of newly founded co-ops has also been on the decrease since the peak in 2011
MARKET INTEGRATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF WIND POWER COOPERATIVES IN DENMARK LESSONS LEARNED FOR GERMANY
By
Boris Gotchev
Wind power cooperatives in Denmark have mitigated exposure to market risks through joint cooperative actions and coopera-tion with financially strong partners. They have been facilitated by specific regulatory measures. Meanwhile, Bürgerwindparks (citizen-owned wind farms) in Germany could face severe obstacles from increased market integration. Price risks are ower, but the risks and costs of marketing electricity could be higher compared to Denmark.
UK Energy Policy and the role of community energy
By
Catherine Mitchell
Its not all doom and gloom in GB–FITs has been a great success and kick-started all sorts of developments.
NYT: Green-Energy Inspiration Off the Coast of Denmark
By
That means Samso actually generates more power from renewable sources than it consumes over all. Attached by a power cable to the mainland 11 miles away, the island sells its excess electricity to the national utility, bringing income to the hundreds of residents who own shares in the island’s wind farms, both on land and at sea.
Community Feed-In-Tariff project approved in Bible Hill
By
One of seven new Community Feed-In Tariff (COMFIT) projects to produce local renewable electricity will be located in Bible Hill.
Local energy brings greater democracy in Poland
By
Philippa Nuttall Jones
And in most of the energy companies, the majority stakeholder is the state. “This is not a democratic system where people can take control,” says Krzyszkowska. On the other hand, “community energy allows different stakeholders to own energy; people can take energy into their own hands and make their own decisions”.
Renewables International: The Pioneer of Community Wind in Japan
By
Shota Furuya
In September 2001, a wind turbine started its operation in Hamatombetsu, the northern part of Hokkaido. The wind turbine is called “Hamakaze-chan”[1], whose name was given by local elementary school children. It was the first citizen funded wind power project in Japan, and the adventurous attempt of a non-profit organization Hokkaido Green Fund (HGF) opened up the series of community based renewable energy development.
Locally-Controlled, Renewable Energy Championed As Key To Climate Justice
By
Jon Queally
Backed by a new white paper by researchers at the What’s Next Forum, Scherbarth and her colleagues at FOEI say that locally implemented and decentralized energy systems—including small-scale wind farms and distributive solar arrays that can feed-in to local power grids—are the key to pulling people out of poverty while also addressing the glaring crisis of runaway greenhouse gas emissions that are ruining the planet and the climate.
