Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Community Renewable Energy in the UK: A Short History

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Handbuch Energiewende und Partizipation

Zusammenfassung

The clean-tech transition has come hand in hand with market and resource differentiation patterns that have created opportunities for heightened engagement of citizens in heat and power generation, potentially emancipating them from their roles as captive consumers (van Vliet, 2005). New opportunities for diverse and civic ownership models are made possible by distributed renewable generation technologies and their ability to be widely integrated into the power network as a result of advances in network management and control (Catney et al., 2014; Johnson & Hall, 2014; Lehtonen & Nye, 2009; Morris, 2013; Walker & Cass, 2007). This chapter maps out the development of ‘community energy’ in the United Kingdom, defined as collective and citizen- led heat and power generation projects that are owned and managed by for- or non-profit organisations operating across a geographically defined population (Doci, Vasileiadou, & Petersen, 2015; Ruggiero, Onkila, & Kuittinen, 2014; Scottish Government, 2014; Walker & Cass, 2007; Walker & Devine-Wright, 2008).

This work has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No. 316020. I thank Martin Berka, Joanne Kooijman and Dan van der Horst for comments that greatly improved this chapter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Literatur

  • Amin, A., Cameron, A., & Hudson, R. (2002). The social economy in context: Chapter 1 In J. Mitchie (Ed.), Placing the Social Economy (pp. 1 – 160). London & New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, P. D. (1998). Wind Power in Denmark: Technology, Policy, and Results. 51171/97-0008. Roskilde: Danish Energy Agency.

    Google Scholar 

  • Avelino, F., Frantzeskaki, N., & Bosman, R. (2013). A Complex Transition Perspective on Community Energy: Exploring the Dynamics of Community Energy from a Complex Transition Perspective. SCORAI Europe Workshop Proceedings, InContext Scientific Workshop, 7 – 8 October 2013. Retrieved from http://scorai.org/wp-content/uploads/Proceedings-InContext-SCORAI-Pathways-Workshop-FINAL.pdf

  • Barton, J., Emmnuel-Yusuf, D., Hall, S., Johnson, V., & Longhurst, N. (2015). Distributing Power: A Transition to a Civic Energy Future. Report of the Realising Transition Pathways Research Consortium Engine Room.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauwens, T., Gotchev, B., & Holstenkamp, L. (2016). What drives the development of community energy in Europe? The case of wind power cooperatives. Energy Research & Social Science, 13, 136 – 147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Béland D., & Lecours A. (2008). Nationalism and social policy: the politics of territorial solidarity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berka A., Harnmeijer J., & Slee, B. (2017a). Crossing the Rubricon: the 2015 renewable electricity reforms and implications for Scotland. In G. Wood & K. Baker (Eds.), A Critical Review of Scottish Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Policy: Implications for the Independence Debate. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berka A., Harnmeijer J., Roberts D. Phimister E., Msika J. (2017b). A comparative analysis of the costs of onshore wind energy: Is there a case for community-specific policy support? Energy Policy 106: 394 – 403. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.070

  • Birchall J. (1994). Co-op: The People’s Business. New York: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birchall J. (1997). The International Co-operative Movement. New York: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolinger, M. (2001). Community wind power ownership schemes in Europe and their relevance to the United States. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Retrieved from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/78k755vv

  • Bolton, R., & Foxon, T. J. (2013). Urban infrastructure dynamics: market regulation and the shaping of district energy in UK cities. Environment and Planning A, 45(9): 2194 – 2211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulkeley, H., & Kern, K. (2016). Local Government and the Governing of Climate Change in Germany and the UK. Urban Studies, 43(12), 2237 – 2259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byatt, I. C. R. (1988). British Electrical. In J. F. Wilson (Ed.), Ferranti and the British electrical industry, 1864 – 1930. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (1996). The Rise of the Network Society: Vol. I. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catney, P., MacGregor, S., Dobson, A., Hall, S. M., Royston, S., Robinson, Z., et al. (2014). Big society, little justice? Community renewable energy and the politics of localism. Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability, 19(7), 715 –730.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chick, M. (1995). The political economy of nationalisation: the electricity industry. In M. R. Britain & J. Singleton (Eds.), The political economy of nationalisation in Britain, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conaty, P., & Mayo, E. (2012). Towards a Co-operative Energy Service Sector. Journal of Co-Operative Studies, 45(1), 1 – 10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cowell, R, Ellis, G, Sherry-Brennan, F, Strachan, PA & Toke, D (2015). Rescaling the Governance of Renewable Energy: Lessons from the UK Devolution Experience. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cumbers, A. (2012). Reclaiming Public Ownership: Making Space for Economic Democracy. London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Moor, T. (2013). Homo cooperans: instituties voor collectieve actie en de solidaire samenleving. Oratie Augustus, 2013, 1 – 42, Universiteit Utrecht.

    Google Scholar 

  • DECC. (2014). Community Energy in the UK: Part 2. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-energy-in-the-uk-part-2

  • DECC. (2015). Government response to the Shared Ownership Taskforce. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/shared-ownership-taskforce

  • Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2010). Social enterprise in Europe: At the crossroads of market, public policies and third sector. Policy and Society, 29 (3), 231 – 242.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Trade and Industry. (2004). Global Watch Mission Report – Co-operative energy: lessons from Denmark and Sweden. October 2004, DTI and Co-operatives UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Trade and Industry. (2002). Social Enterprise: A Strategy for Success. Retrieved from http://www.webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/%2A/ http://www.sbs.gov.uk/socialenterprise

  • Dóci, G., Vasileiadou, E., & Petersen, A. C. (2015). Exploring the transition potential of renewable energy communities. Futures, 66, 85 – 95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gross, R. (2010). Is there a route to a UK Feed in Tariff for renewable energy? ICEPT Working Paper. Retrieved from https://workspace.imperial.ac.uk/icept/Public/a%20route%20to%20a%20UK%20Feed%20in%20Tariff3.pdf

  • Gross, R., & Heptonstall, P. (2014). Time to stop experimenting with UK renewable energy policy, ICEPT Working Paper, October 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gubbins, N. (2007). Community Energy in Practice. Local Economy, 22(1), 80 – 84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haggett, C., Aitken, M., Harnmeijer, J., Markantoni, M., Rudolph, D., & Van Veelen, B. (2014). Supporting community investment in commercial renewable energy schemes. ClimateXchange Report. Retrieved from http://www.climatexchange.org.uk/reducing-emissions/supporting-community-investment-commercial-energy-schemes/

  • Hain, J. J., Ault, G. W., Galloway, S. J., Cruden, A., & McDonald, J. R. (2005). Additional renewable energy growth through small-scale community orientated energy policies. Energy Policy, 33(9), 1199 – 1212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S., Foxon, T. J., & Bolton, R. (2016). Financing the civic energy sector: How financial institutions affect ownership models in Germany and the United Kingdom. Energy Research & Social Science, 12, 5 – 15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, S., & Roelich, K. (2015). Local Electricity Supply: Opportunities, archetypes and outcomes. Report of the Realising Transition Pathways Research Consortium Engine Room, Retrieved from https://research.ncl.ac.uk/ibuild/outputs/local_electricity_supply_report_WEB.pdf

  • Hannah, L. (1979). Electricity before Nationalisation: A Study of the Development of the Electricity Supply Industry in Britain to 1948. London & Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, J. (1982, 14 January). The electricity of Holborn, New Scientist.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkey, D., Webb, J., & Winskel, M. (2013). Organisation and governance of urban energy systems: district heating and cooling in the UK. Journal of Cleaner Production, 50(c), 22 – 31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heiskanen, E., Johnson, M., Robinson, S., Vadovics, E., & Saastamoinen, M. (2010). Low-carbon communities as a context for individual behavioural change. Energy Policy, 38(12), 7586 – 7595.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helby, P. (1995). Rationality of the Subsidy Regime for Wind Power in Sweden and Denmark. Presented at the EWEA Special Topic Conference.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hain, J. J., Ault, G. W., Galloway, S. J., Cruden, A., & McDonald, J. R. (2005). Additional renewable energy growth through small-scale community orientated energy policies. Energy Policy, 33(9), 1199 – 1212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helm, D. (2004). Energy, the State, and the Market: British Energy Policy since 1979. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helm, D. (2005). A new British energy policy. The Social Market Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2005/11/Publication-A-new-British-energy-policy.pdf

  • Hess, D. J. (2011). Electricity Transformed: Neoliberalism and Local Energy in the United States. Antipode, 43(4), 1056 – 1077.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, V., & Hall, S. (2014). Community energy and equity: The distributional implications of a transition to a decentralised electricity system. People, Place and Policy, 8(3), 149 – 167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamp, L. M., Smits, R. E. H. M., & Andriesse, C. D. (2004). Notions on learning applied to wind turbine development in the Netherlands and Denmark. Energy Policy, 32(14), 1625 – 1637.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerlin, J. A. (2013). Defining Social Enterprise Across Different Contexts: A Conceptual Framework Based on Institutional Factors. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42(1), 84 – 108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kern, F., Kuzemko, C., & Mitchell, C. (2014). Measuring and explaining policy paradigm change: the case of UK energy policy. Policy & Politics, 42(4), 513 – 530.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klessmann, C., Nabe, C., & Burges, K. (2008). Pros and cons of exposing renewables to electricity market risks – A comparison of the market integration approaches in Germany, Spain, and the UK. Energy Policy, 36(10), 3646 – 3661.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuzemko, C., Lockwood, M., Mitchell, C., & Hoggett, R. (2016). Governing for sustainable energy system change: Politics, contexts and contingency. Energy Research & Social Science, 12, 96 – 105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leaney, V., Jenkins, D., Rowlands, A., Gwilliam, R., & Smith, D. (2001). Local and community ownership of renewable energy power production: Examples of wind turbine projects. Wind Engineering, 25(4), 1 – 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehtonen, M., & Nye, S. (2009). History of electricity network control and distributed generation in the UK and Western Denmark. Energy Policy, 37, 2338 – 2345.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millward, R. (2005). Private and Public Enterprises in Europe: Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, 1830 – 1990. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, C. (1995). The renewables NFFO: a review. Energy Policy, 23(12), 1077 – 1091.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, C., & Connor, P. (2004). Renewable energy policy in the UK 1990 – 2003. Energy Policy, 32(17), 1935 – 1947.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, C. (2008). The Political Economy of Sustainable Energy. New York, Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, C., & Connor, P. (2004). Renewable energy policy in the UK 1990 – 2003. Energy Policy, 32(17), 1935 – 1947.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, J. (2013). The evolving localism and neoliberalism of urban renewable energy projects. Culture, Agriculture, Food and the Environment, 35, 16 – 29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moss, T. (2009). Intermediaries and the Governance of Sociotechnical Networks in Transition. Environment and Planning A, 41(6), 1480 – 1495.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moss, T., Becker, S., & Naumann, M. (2014). Whose energy transition is it, anyway? Organisation and ownership of the Energiewende in villages, cities and regions. Local Environment, 20(12), 1547 – 1563.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls, A. (2010). Institutionalizing Social Entrepreneurship in Regulatory Space: Reporting and Disclosure by Community Interest Companies. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35(4), 394 – 415.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nolden, C. (2013). Governing community energy – Feed-in tariffs and the development of community wind energy schemes in the United Kingdom and Germany. Energy Policy, 63, 543 – 552.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Hara, S., & Stagl, S. (2002). Endogenous preferences and sustainable development. Journal of Socio-Economics, 31, 511 – 527.

    Google Scholar 

  • Okkonen, L., & Lehtonen, O. (2016). Socio-economic impacts of community wind power projects in Northern Scotland. Renewable Energy, 85(C), 826 – 833.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker D. (2012). The Official History of Privatisation, Vol. II: Popular Capitalism, 1987 – 97. Chapman Hall: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phimister, E., & Roberts, D. (2012). The Role of Ownership in Determining the Rural Economic Benefits of On-shore Wind Farms. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 63(2), 331 – 360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, M. (1999). Issues in Electricity Market Integration and Liberalization. Part I. In R. Vaitilingam (Ed.), A European Market for Electricity (pp. 1 – 26). Centre for Economic Policy Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratinen, M., & Lund, P. (2015). Policy inclusiveness and niche development: Examples from wind energy and photovoltaics in Denmark, Germany, Finland, and Spain. Energy Research & Social Science, 6, 136 – 145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, N. (2010). The Co-operative movement and communities in Britain, 1914 – 1960: minding their own business. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, C. (1992). Privatising British Energy Industries: Lessons learned. Metroeconomica, 43, 103 – 139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudd, A. (2015, 24 July). 2015 Speech on Climate Change. Aviva Conference, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggiero, S., Onkila, T., & Kuittinen, V. (2014). Realizing the social acceptance of community renewable energy: A process-outcome analysis of stakeholder influence. Energy Research & Social Science, 4, 53 – 63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scottish Government. (2010). Scottish government community and renewable energy loan scheme: guidance. Retrieved from http://www.communityenergyscotland.org.uk/userfiles/file/CARES/CARES%20Loan%20Fund%20Guidance.pdf

  • Scottish Government. (2011). Renewable Energy for Communities. Retrieved from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Energy-sources/19185/Communities

  • Scottish Government. (2015). Good Practice Principles for Shared Ownership of Onshore Renewable Energy Developments. Retrieved from http://www.localenergyscotland.org/goodpractice

  • Seyfang, G., Park, J. J., & Smith, A. (2013). A thousand flowers blooming? An examination of community energy in the UK. Energy Policy, 61(C), 977 – 989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seyfang, G., Hielscher, S., Hargreaves, T., Martiskainen, M., & Smith, A. (2014). A grassroots sustainable energy niche? Reflections on community energy in the UK. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 13, 21 – 44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slee, B., & Harnmeijer, J. (2017). Scottish Community Energy. In G. Wood & K. Baker (Eds.), A Critical Review of Scottish Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Policy: Implications for the Independence Debate. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. (2005). The alternative technology movement: an analysis of its framing and negotiation of technology development. Human Ecology Review, 12(2), 106 – 119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A., Kern, F., Raven, R., & Verhees, B. (2014). Spaces for sustainable innovation: Solar photovoltaic electricity in the UK. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 81(C), 115 – 130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snaith, I. (1996). Co-operative Principles and Co-operative Law in the United Kingdom. Journal of Co-operative Studies, 29, 48 – 64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tait, J., & Lyall, C. (2005). A New Mode of Governance for Science, Technology, Risk and the Environment? In C. Lyall & J. Tait (Eds.), New Modes of Governance: Developing an Integrated Policy Approach to Science, Technology, Risk and the Environment (pp. 177 – 188). Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teasdale, S. (2012). What’s in a Name? Making Sense of Social Enterprise Discourses. Public Policy and Administration, 27(2), 99 – 119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thatcher, M. (1990). Speech on Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government, 1990 Nov 22, Hansard HC [181/445 – 53]. Retrieved from http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/108256

  • Thomas, S. (1996). The Privatisation of the Electricity Supply Industry. In J. Surrey (Ed.), The British Electricity Experiment. Privatisation: the record, the issues, the lessons. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toke, D., & Elliott, D. (2000). A fresh start for UK wind power? International Journal of Ambient Energy, 21(2), 67 – 76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toke, D., Breukers, S., & Wolsink, M. (2008). Wind power deployment outcomes: How can we account for the differences? Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 12(4), 1129 – 1147.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Vliet, B. (2003). Differentiation and Ecological Modernization in Water and Electricity Provision and Consumption. Innovation, 16 (1), 29 – 48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Horst, D. (2005). UK biomass energy since 1990; the mismatch between project types and policy objectives. Energy Policy, 33(5), 705 – 716.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Horst, D. (2008). Social enterprise and renewable energy: emerging initiatives and communities of practice. Social Enterprise Journal, 4(3), 171 – 185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Villeneuve, F., & Temple, N. (2015). State of Social Enterprise UK 2015. Retrieved from http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/advice-services/publications/state-social-enterprise-report-2015

  • Walker, G. (1997). Renewable Energy in the UK: The Cinderella Sector Transformed? Geography, 82(1), 59 – 74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, G., Hunter, S., Devine-Wright, P., Evans, B., & Fay, H. (2007). Harnessing Community Energies: Explaining and Evaluating Community-Based Localism in Renewable Energy Policy in the UK. Global Environmental Politics, 7(2), 64 – 82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, G., & Cass, N. (2007). Carbon reduction, ‘the public’ and renewable energy: engaging with socio-technical configurations. Area, 39, 458 – 469.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, G., & Devine-Wright, P. (2008). Community renewable energy: What should it mean? Energy Policy, 36(2), 497 – 500.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warren, C. R., & McFadyen, M. (2010). Does community ownership affect public attitudes to wind energy? A case study from south-west Scotland. Land Use Policy, 27(2), 204 – 213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, K. M. (1999). Innovation Diffusion and Political Control of Energy Technologies: A Comparison of Combined Heat and Power Generation in the UK and Germany. Heidelberg: Physica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wicks, M. (2009). Energy security: A national challenge in a changing world, London: Department of Energy and Climate Change.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. C. (2012). A history of the UK renewable energy programme, 1974 – 88: some social, political, and economic aspects (PhD Thesis). University of Glasgow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. F., Webster, A., & Vorberg-Rugh, R. (2013). Building Co-operation: A Business History of the Co-operative Group, 1863 – 2013. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods, P., & Overgaard, J. (2016). Historical development of district heating and characteristics of a modern district heating system. In R. Wiltshire (Ed.), Advanced District Heating and Cooling (DHC) Systems (pp. 3 – 15). Oxford: Woodhead Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Centre, University of Auckland Business School, Private Bag 92019, 1142, Auckland, New Zealand

    Anna L. Berka

Authors
  1. Anna L. Berka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna L. Berka .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lüneburg, Germany

    Lars Holstenkamp

  2. Universität Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Jörg Radtke

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Berka, A.L. (2018). Community Renewable Energy in the UK: A Short History. In: Holstenkamp, L., Radtke, J. (eds) Handbuch Energiewende und Partizipation. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-09416-4_59

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-09416-4_59

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer VS, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-09415-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-09416-4

  • eBook Packages: Social Science and Law (German Language)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation