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.
Troy Media: Ontario’s Green Energy Revolution Started with a Single Wind Turbine
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Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative’s Lone Wind Turbine in Urban Toronto Started a Debate on the Future of Electricity in Ontario. . .
LBNL: The Impact of Wind Development on County-Level Income and Employment: A Review of Methods and an Empirical Analysis (Fact Sheet)
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Locally-owned projects provide more than double the economic benefit of absentee owned wind projects. . .
Living from the air of the sky: The first citizen’s owned wind turbine in Catalonia
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Josep Puig
On March 10th, 2009 a special event took place in Barcelona: the 25th anniversary of the commissioning of the first modern wind turbine connected to the grid: the Ecotècnia 12/15, installed in Valldevià (Vilopriu, Emprodà, Catalunya) in 1984. . .
Ottawa Renewable Energy Cooperative Completes First Preference Share Offering!
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OREC closed its first preference share offering on August 27, 2012. Over $900,000 was subscribed which will now be invested in already approved FIT solar projects in 2012. . .
Renewables International Craig Morris: Community ownership & Crowdfunding for renewables
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Although the average PV array size in Germany is growing, arrays that might be considered commercial or utility-scale in other countries are generally still owned by citizens in Germany. Now, a Berlin-based startup has launched an Internet platform for community-owned solar arrays to facilitate not only financing, but also the sharing of technical, legal, and business expertise. A recent 9.7 MW array shows how community ownership works even on a large scale. . .
Helsingin Sanomat: Citizen-owned wind power plant set up in Kemi Finsland
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The wind power company founded by the residents of the Vojakkala village has 108 shareholders, most of whom actually live in Southern Finland. . .
Community power co-ops join forces in Ontario’s green energy struggle
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By unifying the co-op sector under one umbrella, setting standards and sharing resources, the Federation expects to support at least 100 MW of community-controlled projects by 2015. . .
Solar farm co-operative raises £2m in Swindon
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Just three weeks after a share offer opened for the UK’s largest cooperatively owned solar farm more than two million pounds has been raised – more than £95,000 a day! . . The solar farm was up and running before August 1 last year so it qualifies for the highest level of feed-in tariff from the government, under a contract which runs for a further 24 years. . .
WWEC 2012: A birds-eye view of community renewable energy development around the world
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The focus and presentations on community power suggested that support and investment in the community renewable energy sector is broadly on the rise, with representatives from no less than twenty one countries across the world presenting on the state of community power. . .
Making Community Power Happen: The progress report and findings on Japanese Community Power
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Shota Furuya, Institute For Sustainable Energy Policies
Presentation on the status of community power in Japan at the WWEC in Bonn 2-5 July 2012. . .
