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.
Accroître Les Possibilités en Matière D’Energie Renouvelable en Ontario
By
Ontario Ministère De L’energie
COMMUNIQUÉS Version Original Ontario Ministère de l’Energie Pour diffusion immédiate Relations avec les médias 416 314-8975 Le 21 mars 2006 …

Strom Rebels of Schönau: The Village That Built Their Own Solar Utility
By
Paul Gipe
Alt captured that rebellious spirit in his inspiring tale of the small town of Schönau and how residents built a solar utility in the deep recesses of Germany’s Schwartzwald–the Black Forest of legend. The story has all the elements of its own legend in the making. Small town Davids against electric utility Goliaths. Simple townsfolk with a bright, you could say “sunny”, outlook on the future. And a decades-long struggle to bring their dream to reality. There’s a movie script waiting to be written, or at least a documentary

Toronto’s WindShare Coop
By
Paul Gipe
North America’s first truly urban wind turbine is located on the grounds of the Canadian National Exposition, the CNE or …
Wolfgang Paulsen, Bohmstedt, and Butendiek
By
Paul Gipe
Wolfgang Paulsen is one of the owners of a Bürger wind project in the far northwest of Schleswig-Holstein near …

Josef Pesch–Strom Rebel of Freiburg
By
Paul Gipe
Pesch was named a strom (electricity) rebel by Elektritzitätswerke Schönau (EWS) in 2005 and that was a good reason for …
Samsø: Denmark’s Renewable Energy Island
By
Paul Gipe
Samsø is a 112 square kilometers island off the east coast of Denmark’s Jutland peninsula. Home to 4,300 residents, …
Observations on Bürgerbeteiligung–German Share Cooperatives–by Henning Holst
By
Paul Gipe
I first met Henning Holst in the late 1980s or early 1990s when he was developing citizen-owned wind projects …
Le Haut des Ailes: France’s First Large-Scale Cooperative Wind Plant
By
Paul Gipe
Some of the RePower turbines in Le Haut des Ailes near Igny, Lorraine, France. Photo by Paul Gipe We were …
