Bürgerbeteiligungsmodelle für erneuerbare Energien - Eine Begriffsbestimmung aus finanzwirtschaftlicher Perspektive

Because of liberalization, in response to climate change policy and as a reaction to threads of energy security the energy sector finds itself in a process of fundamental change. Renewable energies are ascribed a much greater importance than currently. Besides technical problems especially organizational and financial questions have to be solved. One type of organization for the deployment of renewable energies are citizen participation schemes. However, the term is connected with different contents and used in different contexts. In this contribution, a working definition of the term citizen participation scheme from a financial perspective is provided where some of the discussion contexts are illuminated

Zum Stand von Energiegenossenschaften in Deutschland: Aktualisierter Überblick über Zahlen und Entwicklungen zum 31.12.2014

Nach den starken Zuwächsen in den vergangenen Jahren ist die Gründungsdynamik im Bereich der Energiegenossenschaften im Jahr 2014 zum Erliegen gekommen. Zum Ablauf des Jahres 2014 waren 973 Energiegenossenschaften in den Genossenschaftsregistern eingetragen. Insgesamt wurden im Jahr 2014 66 Energiegenossenschaften neu in die Register eingetragen, von denen jedoch nur 29 auch im Jahr 2014 gegründet wurden. Im Jahr 2013 wurden noch 104 Energiegenossenschaften neu gegründet und 172 in den Genossenschaftsregistern registriert. Unter den Neugründungen befinden sich schwerpunktmäßig Energieproduktionsgenossenschaften, gleichauf mit Nahwärmenetzgenossenschaften

Zum Stand von Energiegenossenschaften in Deutschland: Ein statistischer Überblick zum 31. Dezember 2012

Die Gründungsdynamik im Bereich der Energiegenossenschaften setzt sich auf dem Niveau des Jahres 2011 fort. Zum Ablauf des Jahres 2012 waren 754 Energiegenossenschaften in den Genossenschaftsregistern eingetragen. Das Jahr 2012 übertrifft mit 199 Neueintragungen im Bereich der Energiegenossenschaften das Jahr 2011 leicht. Regionale Schwerpunkte der Entwicklung sind Bayern, Baden-Württemberg und Niedersachsen. Die genutzten Daten wurden durch Abfragen öffentlicher Register gewonnen und stellen eine Vollerhebung des Feldes zum Ablauf des Jahres 2012 dar

Business Models for Prosumers in Europe

This report explores the different business models being adopted to enable renewable energy generation and self-consumption in the European Union. Individuals, businesses and energy communities that install renewable energy generation and self-consume some of that generation are called ‘prosumers’. Prosumers may be householders, businesses or communities whose primary business is not energy generation. The price of installing on-site renewables is falling, which means homes and businesses can increasingly afford the up-front cost of installing a system. At the same time, governments are removing the subsidies formerly paid to prosumers for feeding renewable energy into the grid. In parallel, energy systems are getting smarter, so it is becoming easier to account for smaller and smaller amounts of energy and to trade them between smaller players in the energy market; even down to household to household trades. The recent Clean Energy Package (CEP) for All Europeans enshrines the rights of European citizens to become individual and/or collective prosumers. Collective prosumers are defined in the Clean Energy Package by two new types of organisation; Renewable Energy Communities and Citizen Energy Communities who are empowered to generate, use and to sell energy collectively, between themselves. How these Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) and Citizen Energy Communities (CECs) are established in each Member State (MS) is a matter for each MS’s energy policy and regulation. This report explores why these RECs and CECs are necessary, what kinds of value they might be trying to capture in the energy transition, and how they can be empowered through MS’ energy policy and regulation. To do this we investigated the business models being adopted by individual and collective prosumers

Regulatory challenges and opportunities for collective renewable energy prosumers in the EU

The transition to a low-carbon future based on renewable energy sources is leading to a new role for citizens, from passive energy consumers to active energy citizens - the so-called renewable energy (RE) prosumers. Recent EU energy policy seeks to mainstream RE prosumers in each Member State. This study carries out a cross-country comparison between the regulatory frameworks of nine countries and regions - Belgium (Flanders region only), Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and the United Kingdom - to reveal the main challenges and opportunities that these have posed to collective RE prosumers (i.e. renewable energy communities, citizen energy communities and jointly-acting renewable self-consumers). Four countries have had more favourable frameworks for collective prosumers: France, Germany, Netherlands and United Kingdom. The results indicate that the current legal framework at the EU level represents a clear opportunity for collective prosumers. Spain and Portugal have both already shifted from a restrictive regulation to implementing in 2019 a legal framework for collectives. The study provides a starting point to distil policy implications for improving legal frameworks relevant for collective RES prosumers across Europe.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Entwicklung und Stand von Bürgerenergiegesellschaften und Energiegenossenschaften in Deutschland

In the paper, the authors describe an estimation of the number and development of community energy companies and energy cooperatives in Germany. The analysis is based on two databases that are maintained by the authors. An increase in the number of new community energy companies in Germany can be observed until 2014. In 2014 at the latest, the number of newly founded energy cooperatives decreased. The decline could only partly be compensated by an increase in the number of limited partnerships with a limited liability company as general partner (GmbH & Co. KG). This shift from the cooperative model to the limited partnership model is linked to a shift in the predominant electricity generation technology. An increase in onshore wind energy can be observed while photovoltaics had to struggle with a shrinking market. Moreover, more bankruptcies and liquidations have been observed since 2009 for community energy companies and energy cooperatives. The existing community energy companies are mostly producing electricity while only a smaller group runs energy grids, especially for heat distribution (small district heating networks). The main focus of community energy companies and energy cooperatives lays on the production of energy through onshore wind and photovoltaics. Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia are the regional core areas of these companies

Simplify the uptake of community energy by leveraging intermediaries and the use of digital planning tools

Policy Highlights To achieve the recommendation stated in the chapter title, we propose the following: Ensure the follow-up and implementation of EU policy measures, including by conducting quality assessments and introducing national community energy targets. Foster institutional allies at local and regional levels. Provide access to and capacities for using digital planning tools. Nurture knowledge and method integration across STEM and SSH disciplines to develop practices and tools to effectively implement community-led initiatives

Institutional relatedness and the emergence of renewable energy cooperatives in German districts

This paper analyses the evolution of renewable energy cooperatives, examining all such cooperatives founded in German districts between 2006 and 2016. The rise of the cooperative form in renewable energy production is a prominent example of the strong involvement of users in market formation. We investigate the effects of ‘institutional relatedness’, arguing that renewable energy cooperatives can leverage the organizational knowledge and the legitimacy gained by cooperatives active in other industries in the same district. Using an organizational ecology approach, we find that the local presence of cooperatives in other industries indeed supported the founding of renewable energy cooperatives

Collective renewable energy prosumers and the promises of the energy union: Taking stock

A key strategy in the European Union’s ambition to establish an ‘Energy Union’ that is not just clean, but also fair, consists of empowering citizens to actively interact with the energy market as self-consumers or prosumers. Although renewable energy sources (RES) prosumerism has been growing for at least a decade, two new EU directives are intended to legitimise and facilitate its expansion. However, little is known about the full range of prosumers against which to measure policy effectiveness. We carried out a documentary study and an online survey in nine EU countries to shed light on the demographics, use of technology, organisation, financing, and motivation as well as perceived hindering and facilitating factors for collective prosumers. We identified several internal and external obstacles to the successful mainstreaming of RES prosumerism, among them a mismatch of policies with the needs of different RES prosumer types, potential organisational weaknesses as well as slow progress in essential reforms such as decentralising energy infrastructures. Our baseline results offer recommendations for the transposition of EU directives into national legislations and suggest avenues for future research in the fields of social, governance, policy, technology, and business models