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Power to the people? : an assessment of energy communities as means for energy democracy in the European Union
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Florence : European University Institute, 2024
EUI; STG; Master Thesis
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WICKSTRÖM, Jens Adrian, Power to the people? : an assessment of energy communities as means for energy democracy in the European Union, Florence : European University Institute, 2024, EUI, STG, Master Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77164
Abstract
Energy Communities (EC) has become an integral tool to realise the European Commission buzz phrase “energy transition to energy democracy”. This thesis is the first EU-wide comparison scrutinizing the ECs’ contribution to energy democracy (ED) by its governance structure. While no satisfying definition exists for ED, a material-agential approach is taken, dissecting it into operationalizable dimensions – popular sovereignty, participatory governance, and civic ownership. EC were defined by common denominators in the vast literature (governance structures, citizen participation and ownership of energy production). Governed as either associations or cooperatives, thus applying the definition, the descriptive statistics used the “Energy by People” inventory (Wierling et al., 2022) highlighted Belgium, Italy, Sweden, and Denmark as deviating cases. To further understand their contribution to ED, country-specific samples and expert interviews were conducted. The findings suggest the best socioeconomic practices (Italy) of ECs derive from cooperatives that embrace the (to some, controversial) inclusion of municipalities.
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Award date: 14 June 2024
Supervisor: Prof. Kalypso Nicolaïdis (European University Institute)
Supervisor: Prof. Kalypso Nicolaïdis (European University Institute)