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.
Renewables International: The chilling effect on energy co-ops of new German policy
By
Craig Morris
The DGRV, the umbrella organization for German energy cooperatives, has taken a survey of its members and found that a third of them have given up future investments.
WindShare: a stellar investment, a gallant icon
By
Stewart Russell
So when I see the WindShare turbine — whether fleetingly, from a GO train, or at extreme length when stuck on the terminally gridlocked Gardiner Expressway — it still makes me smile. We built an icon. We built careers then unknown to the province. We built hope. And from that, the return on satisfaction is better than any deal you can get on Bay St.
One cheer for the UK Government’s community energy strategy
By
Dave Toke
The Government has launched a discussion document aimed at ensuring that local people have the opportunity to gain shares or income from renewable energy developments, but in typically British centralising fashion it is ironic that this discussion seems to focussed on what the electricity majors want or are prepared to allow.
Radio-Canada: La coopérative Val-Éo semble avoir le vent dans les voiles
By
La coopérative aimerait pouvoir actionner ses éoliennes en décembre 2015. Déjà, 1,2 million de dollars ont été investis en capitaux locaux.
Citizen Ownership Remains Foundation of German Renewable Energy Explosion
By
John Farrell
placeholderI’ve been posting updates on local ownership of renewable energy in Germany since early 2011, and it’s abundantly clear that the Germans have yet to back down from their commitment to democratic, locally owned power.
World first for community tidal scheme
By
The world’s first community-owned tidal power turbine in Scotland has started exporting electricity to the local grid, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing revealed today.
Windpower Ownership in Sweden–a Review
By
Paul Gipe
Windpower Ownership in Sweden: Business models and motives, the new book by Tore Wizelius helps English-speakers understand how Swedes have taken a sizable ownership of wind energy in spite of their government. In this, his book can serve as an inspiration to community wind advocates worldwide who face many of the same challenges faced in Sweden.
SPP: DECC ponders new community energy-only FiT rate in Britain
By
John Parnell
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) could develop a new feed-in tariff (FiT) rate under plans putout for consultation on Tuesday.
Renewables Interantional: Germany’s biggest community wind farm to open
By
Craig Morris
A new wind farm to be opened in southwest Germany in a few weeks shows how much equity German citizens can bring together – and how much borrowed capital they can leverage. Clearly, the EU’s plans for a set-aside for community projects underestimates how big such projects already are.
Renewables International: Ownership & The role of energy co-ops
By
Craig Morris
The purpose of today’s energy cooperatives, all of which are for-profit entities, has always been to allow individual citizens to pool their resources and leverage large amounts of capital for the development of projects that citizens otherwise could not undertake as individuals.
