Community participation in deciding on local renewable energy projects

Karel Mulder
2021
Citizen participation in local renewable energy projects is often promoted as a panacea for the difficulties that are involved in the energy transition process. Quite evidently, it is not; creating a stakeholder participation process presupposes that there is a wide variety of perspectives and stakes in the energy transition process; and indeed, we can all observe this wide variety. However, conflicting viewpoints will not vanish miraculously by a participation process. In this paper, we aim at
more » ... developing insight in what participation might achieve. We will first sketch the substance of local conflicts on renewable energy projects. Afterwards the paper analyses three case studies on local participation processes. The success of participation is not identical to the acceptance of local renewable energy projects: it is reaching a joint decision on a pathway for the future. Such decisions are not impossible. The paper will finally argue that a good citizen participation process can be organized if the process is open and fair, and citizens are not addressed as opponents or greedy subjects, but as responsible partners in the energy transition.
doi:10.3217/978-3-85125-842-4-42 fatcat:2y2dultd6vhzlnw4en2m76ni5u