In this ground-breaking book, Jörg Radtke offers for the first time within research, a comprehensive insight into the range of organizational structures of community energy projects in Germany and their contribution to the Energiewende. Based on nationwide quantitative survey data and in-depth analyses of selected case studies of solar, wind and geothermal projects, Radtke documents the social structure and motivations of participating citizens. He examines new forms of material participation, community building and co-determination within the mostly volunteer-led community energy projects based on the civic engagement patterns of active “green citizens”. The author identifies a new form of individualistic participation and collective modes of action in line with new types of project-oriented participation between business, politics and civil society within sustainability transformation processes of the early 21st century.
Author(s): Jörg Radtke
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 741
City: Wiesbaden
Preface
References
Contents
List of Figures
1: Introduction: Community Energy and Democracy
1.1 Participation and Democracy
1.2 Participation in Renewable Energy Projects: Decisions, Investment and Planning
1.3 Democracy and Technology
2: A Review of the Literature
2.1 Participation
2.1.1 Research on Participation: A Review of the Literature
2.1.2 Explaning Political Participation: The Standard Socio-Economic Model (SES)
2.1.3 Criteria of Participation
2.2 Political Participation: Changing Participation and Changing Effects of Participation
2.2.1 New Definitions of Political Participation: Introducing an Individualized, Subject-Centered View on Political Participation
2.2.2 Financial Participation
2.2.3 Organizational Participation
2.3 Social and Civil Society Participation
2.3.1 Discussion: Financial and Material, Organizational and Civic Participation in Community Energy Projects as a New Type of Political Participation?
2.4 Civic Engagement
2.5 Typologies and Scales of Civic Participation
2.6 Effects of Civic Participation
2.7 Summary
3: Study Design: Analysis of Community Energy Participation
3.1 Analysis of Forms of Participation
3.1.1 Forms of Access to Participation
Form of Participation: How Is Participation Carried Out?
Participatory Practice: Who Participates?
Participation Effects: What Influence Does Participation Have on Individuals, Social Communities, Local Discourses and Publics? What Social Dynamics Emerge and Are Initiated?
3.1.2 Forms of Participation in Community Energy Projects
3.2 The Empirical Approach to the Study of Community Energy
4: Community Energy Research
4.1 Framing the Debate
4.2 A Closer Look at Community Energy Research
4.3 Community Energy in Germany
4.4 Definitions and Typological Approaches
4.5 Summary: Defining Community Energy
4.6 Effects of Community Energy and Open Research Questions
4.7 A Summary of the Research Findings
5: Methodological Considerations for Data Collection and Analysis
5.1 Research Design
5.1.1 Overview
5.1.2 Combining Case Studies and an Online Survey: A Mixed Methods Approach
5.2 Comparative Case Studies
5.2.1 Deductive Versus Inductive Exploratory Studies: Using a Combined Approach
5.2.2 Assessing Sample Representativeness and Focussing on the Individual Level
5.3 Data Collection and Methods of Analysis
5.3.1 Using Expert Interviews with Community Energy Stakeholders
5.3.2 Document Analysis of Formal and Informal Records
5.3.3 Online Survey: Questionnaire Survey Design
5.3.4 Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Data
5.4 Empirically Grounded Construction of Types and Typologies in Qualitative Social Research
5.5 Conclusion
6: Empirical Analysis of Community Energy Projects in Germany
6.1 Framework of the Empirical Analysis
6.1.1 Selection of Case Studies
6.1.2 Comparison of Project Size and Participatory Arrangements
6.1.3 Regional Distribution of Community Energy Projects
6.1.4 Case Studies
6.1.5 Online Survey
6.2 Contextual Conditions and Social Structure
6.2.1 Political Framework Conditions
6.2.2 Social Structure of the Members of Community Energy Initiatives
6.2.3 Personal Qualifications for Participation and Motivation
6.2.4 Characterization of the Case Studies
6.3 Organization and Structure
6.3.1 Organizational Framework Conditions for Social Inclusion and Participation
Structural-Organizational Conditions Due to the Legal Form of Community Energy Projects
Participatory Arrangements: Models and Approaches of Community Energy Projects in Detail
Community Wind Farm (Case Study 1)
Urban Community Solar Cooperative (Case Study 3)
Environmental Association Community Solar Project (Case Study 5)
Rural Community Solar Cooperative (Case Study 6)
Citizens’ Community Geothermal Energy Initiative (Case Study 7)
Supra-Regional Energy Cooperative
Trade-Off: Professionalization Tendencies Versus Inclusion, Activity and Co-determination of Members
The Limits of Voluntary Civic Engagement
Emergence of Different Engagement Structures
6.3.2 Acceptance of Renewable Energy Systems
6.3.3 Perception and Assessment of Community Energy Projects
6.4 Participation and Collaboration
6.4.1 Participatory Design and Engagement Structures for Intra-Community Participation and Collaboration
Blind Spots of Participation: Social Inclusion and Exclusion Capability of Community Energy Projects
Analysis of the Problem
Collaboration in a Community Energy Cooperative
Social Cohesion and Social Capital
Collaborative Activity of the Members
Urban Community Solar Cooperative
Employee Community Energy Cooperative
Rural Community Solar Cooperative
Preliminary Conclusions: The Challenge of a Lack of Topics in Discourse and Collaboration
Deficits of Member’s Participation in Community Wind Energy Projects
Positive Effects of Participation in Community Energy
Economy for the Common Good
Financial Participation and/or Democratic Participation?
6.4.2 Financial Participation, Input of Ideas and Involvement
6.5 Democracy and Reflection of Community Energy
6.5.1 Criticism, Conflicts and Democracy
6.5.2 Members’ Feedback and Discussion
6.5.3 Summary of the Empirical Findings
7: Conclusion: The Essence of Community Energy in Germany
7.1 Typology of Participation in Community Energy Projects
7.1.1 Motivation for Founding a Community Energy Project
7.1.2 Subjective Motivation Structure of the Members
7.1.3 From Pioneer Idea to Practice: Individual Arrangements of Community Energy Projects
7.1.4 Characteristics of a New Form of Participation Through Community Energy
7.2 Reflection on Community Energy
7.2.1 Development Model of Community Energy
7.2.2 Typology and Conception of Community Energy in Germany
7.2.3 Citizen Roles and Citizen Action in Community Energy Projects: Pragmatic Climate Citizens
7.2.4 Discussion: Community Energy as an Allegory for Contemporary Civic Engagement?
7.3 Outlook
7.3.1 Challenges and Future of Community Energy in Germany
7.3.2 Future Research
Appendix 1: Overview of Community Energy Projects of the Case Studies
3.1 Structural Data of the Community Energy Projects (Status of 2012)
3.2 Overview Energy Initiatives: Participatory Arrangements
Appendix 2: Overview of Community Energy Projects Participating in the Survey
Appendix 3: Overview of Interviews and Data Used
3.1 Case Study 1: Bürgerwindpark Hilchenbach / Rothaardwind GmbH
3.2 Case Study 3: Solar Popular E.G.
3.3 Case Study 4: UniBremen Solar e.G.
3.4 Case Study 5: B.U.N.D. Bremen
3.5 Case Study 6: Bürgerenergie Syke e.G.
3.6 Case Study 7: Geothermie-Initiative Markt Schwaben
3.7 Case Study 8: Energiegewinner e.G.
3.8 City of Bremen
References
