Policy Assessment of Municipal Support for Local Renewable Energy Cooperatives

Abstract

Within the Dutch Energy Accord, responsibility to implement the actions needed to attain EU renewable energy goals lies largely with local government. However, municipalities lack the resources and knowledge to effectively complete these actions. In effect, the necessary actions are not adequately taken and the Dutch energy transition is stalling. Decentralized energy production has the potential to account for 30-40% of the country’s energy demand. Local renewable energy cooperatives (LRECs) are an instance of decentralized energy production, which can be seen as a bottom-up movement with the potential to have a large impact on the Dutch energy system. This research aims to accommodate municipalities who currently don’t know how to interact with LREC(s) in their region or who want to attract and support this phenomenon in order to contribute to their municipal sustainability targets. The research objective is to contribute to the development of municipal policy dealing with the emergence and development of local renewable energy cooperatives by translating concepts from TIS theory to a context specific policy assessment framework, to be used by local policymakers in the Netherlands. A qualitative approach is taken, using expert interviews to understand how structural and functional elements from TIS theory are represented in the context of LRECs. The results show a two part policy assessment framework based on these elements. Besides a comprehensive description of the local system requirements for LRECs, it provides a framework for analysis as well as recommendations for the municipal action perspective. Further research is needed to test the framework presented in this thesis among municipal officers and local policymakers, in order to increase its practicability.