Community energy: entanglements of community, state and private sector

CREAMER, Emily, EADSON, William, VAN VEELEN, Bregie, PINKER, Annabel, TINGEY, Margaret, BRAUNHOLTZ-SPEIGHT, Tim, MARKANTONI, Marianna, FODEN, Michael and LACEY-BARNACLE, Max (2018). Community energy: entanglements of community, state and private sector. Geography compass, 12 (7), e12378.

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Link to published version:: https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12378

Abstract

The decarbonisation of energy systems is leading to a reconfiguration of the geographies of energy. One example is the emergence of community energy, which has become a popular object of study for geographers. Although widely acknowledged to be a contested, capacious and flexible term, ‘community energy’ is commonly presented as singular, bounded and localised. In this paper, we challenge this conception of community energy by considering evidence about the role and influence of three categories of actors: community; state; and private sector. We demonstrate how community energy projects are unavoidably entangled with a diversity of actors and institutions operating at and across multiple scales. We therefore argue that community energy is enabled and constituted by trans-scalar assemblages of overlapping actors, which demands multi-sectoral participation and coordination. We point to the need for further academic attention on the boundaries between these actors to better understand the role of different intermediary practices and relationships in facilitating the development of decentralised energy systems with just outcomes.

Item Type: Article
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12378
Page Range: e12378
Depositing User: Sarah Ward
Date Deposited: 11 May 2018 10:46
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2021 07:21
URI: https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/21096

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