Energy democracy in the warmth transition

Abstract

According to the Dutch national government all neighborhoods need to be transitioned to sustainable heating sources by 2050. This goal, related to the phasing out of natural gas, is following up on the globally agreed sustainability goals and is recently strengthened by the will to become independent from Russian imported natural gas. Often, this warmth transition is approached from a technical perspective, but more importantly it is as much as a societal transition as well. The goals previously stated ask for speed and efficiency in the transition. The societal aspects however create an opportunity for the redistribution of power relations and enabling of collective participative communities. In the literature these collective principles are combined by the concept called energy democracy.

Several approaches were seen to promote collective participation in the transitional projects. Municipalities organized ways to collectively and efficiently provide advice on insulation measures and had thoughts on initiating collective purchasing programs. These generic approaches are especially effective for citizens living in the selected neighborhoods for this research, constructed between 1995 and 2005. Apart from the similarity in insulation standards and design these suburbs are often characterized by citizens who are able to financially invest and have the knowledge to do so. These aspects contribute to the increased participation within these generic measures in these suburbs. In suburbs with a relatively lower level of knowledge and less financial capabilities these generic measures do not have the same effect. In these cases, this generic municipal wide approach is leading to exclusion since not every citizen is able to financially invest, or has the knowledge, to contribute. Projects focusing on specific neighborhoods which include intense participation processes adapted to the target group are an opportunity for the promotion of energy democracy.

Apart from the scale and focus the energy democracy approach also comes with a change in the current governance mode. By making use of existing citizens’ networks, such as energy corporations, the power is able to be transferred from municipalities and market parties to civil society. As concluded in this research, a transition becomes theirs when they are able to decide and organize a collective transition themselves with the support of the government. Only then the sustainable energy system becomes democratically owned as in line with the principles of energy democracy. This is currently not the case in the operationalization of the transition. In this transitional phase municipalities have the potential to shift their mode of governance to self-governance and take a more supportive role. However, additional financial support from the national government is needed for municipalities to truly have the ability to implement the principles of energy democracy.

Municipalities argue that this shift is seen as complex since market parties are more benevolent in taking financial risks compared to private citizens. Large scale collective programs need pre-investments in research, tenders to select contractors and above all courage of local initiators to start without knowing if success is achieved. In comparison, market parties are used to taking these risks. This makes upscaling the principles of energy democracy questionable. More research should be conducted to the practicalities of implementing ideas on energy democracy in the field. On the other hand, municipalities are seen experimenting with multiple innovative ideas to collectively organize the all-electric transition. Sharing these innovations on nationwide platforms would help government officials in this early stage of the transition. Additionally, municipalities could make more use of the already existing energy corporations.