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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.

While the potential for peer-to-peer electricity trading, where households trade surplus electricity with peers in a local energy market, is rapidly growing, the drivers of participation in this trading scheme have been understudied so far. In particular, there is a dearth of research on the role of non-monetary incentives for trading surplus electricity, despite their potentially important role. This paper presents the first discrete choice experiment conducted with prosumers (i.e. proactive households actively managing their electricity production and consumption) in the Netherlands. Electricity trading preferences are analyzed regarding economic, environmental, social and technological parameters, based on survey data (N = 74). The dimensions most valued by prosumers are the environmental and, to a lesser extent, economic dimensions, highlighting the key motivating roles of environmental factors. Furthermore, a majority of prosumers stated they would provide surplus electricity for free or for non-monetary compensations, especially to energy-poor households. These observed trends were more pronounced among members of energy cooperatives. This suggests that peer-to-peer energy trading can advance a socially just energy transition. Regarding policy recommendations, these findings point to the need for communicating environmental and economic benefits when marketing P2P electricity trading platforms and for technical designs enabling effortless and customizable transactions.

This paper aims to extend the energy justice framework by using the capability approach to understand factors affecting community acceptance of energy technologies. The capability approach is a normative framework for assessing people’s well-being and devising interventions for social justice. Whilst recognising that opposition to energy technologies is fundamentally a problem of distributive, recognition and procedural injustices, the paper operationalises the capability approach to unveil what these justice tenets mean to indigenous people living in three communities neighbouring wind installations located in Southern Mexico. Findings conclude that building a bottom-up approach to understand complex conceptions of energy justice within a community can lead to an improved awareness of justice implications relevant to community acceptance of energy technologies. In the Mexican case, these factors relate to inclusive community engagement that pays particular attention to valued ways of being and doing of the local population, such as equal access to employment, higher education and professional training, diversified sources of income, and recognition of the local indigenous everyday life and communal identity. The results also highlight a nested structure of justice concerns, with the three tenets being embedded into one another and presenting different levels of visibility.

It has been suggested that participation in community energy initiatives may play an important role in enabling a transition towards renewable energy (RE) deployment by fostering positive attitudes toward renewables. Yet, little is known about how members of community energy initiatives differ from non-members in terms of energy attitudes and whether different profiles of community energy members exist. This article empirically analyses the relations between community energy membership and attitudes toward RE and onshore wind energy. Based on statistical analyses of a large-scale quantitative dataset from an original survey (N = 3963) conducted with two energy cooperatives in Belgium, it contrasts different groups of cooperative members with each other and a comparison group of non-members. Results show that members have significantly more positive attitudes towards RE than non-members. Results also suggest that non-members tend to be more indifferent or more uncertain, not more objecting, than members to wind power. Finally, significant differences among cooperative members are highlighted, illustrating the contrast between communities of place and communities of interest. The findings suggest a novel perspective on the benefits of community energy membership – to overcome indifference or uncertainty – that is relevant to foster a rapid and socially acceptable low carbon transition.