Against All Odds
Community-owned Renewable Energy Projects in North-West Romania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/acme.v18i2.1556Keywords:
Renewable energy projects, innovation, energy policy, North-West Romania, community developmentAbstract
The emergence of community-owned renewable energy projects in Western Europe are rooted in favorable internal community dynamics and an enabling policy contexts. However, in countries like Romania, community-owned renewable energy projects (COREPs) are almost inexistent. By looking at solar power projects in northwestern Romania we discover that, out of 97 projects deployed in rural areas, only two are owned by the local communities. This paper seeks to find out what is the general context surrounding community-renewables interplay in Romania. Specifically it discusses the ways in which public policies hinder the development of COREPs and what alternatives could be implemented to change this situation. For this task, present research relies on a multi-method approach combining questionnaires with local authorities, document analysis and a series of in-depth interviews with representatives of local authorities owning the two COREPs. Based on the empirical data, this paper finds that there is a weak relationship between renewable energy projects and host communities. Even in the case when local authorities own the project, we cannot discuss about effective COREPs in Romania yet. Public policies in the field are quite restrictive, centralized and inflexible, while the selection mechanisms exclude small and peripheral communities from the opportunity of reaping the benefits of renewable energy projects. Discussing with representatives of local communities I also found that projects are poorly integrated in the local socio-economic landscape. The implementation and the management of the projects are outsourced to private companies from outside of these communities. On the bright side, I argue that the two COREPs still produced important benefits for local communities in terms of savings for the local budget, support for innovative thinking (to avoid the difficult bureaucratic processes) and increasing self-awareness of the local authorities regarding their energy options and negotiation capacities.
References
Benedek, Jozsef. 2004. Amenajarea Teritoriului si Dezvoltare Regionala. Presa Universitara Clujeana. Cluj-Napoca.
Benedek, Jozsef, and Aura Moldovan. 2015. “Economic Convergence and Polarisation: Towards a Multi-Dimensional Approach.” Hungarian Geographical Buletin 64 (3): 187–203.
Buchan, David. 2012. “The Energiewende - Germany’s Gamble.” The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies 26 (June): 1–23.
Cebotari, Sorin. 2015. “Romanian Electricity Market in the Light of Fast Development of Renewable Energies: General Presentation and Critical Assesment.” In Perspectives of Renewable Energy in the Danube Region, 113–25. Pecs: Institute for Regional Studies, Center for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Science. Molnar Nyomada Ltd.
Destouni, Georgia, and Harry Frank. 2010. “Renewable Energy.” Ambio, Special Report: Energy 2050, 39 (Suppliment 1): 18–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/S13280-010-00.
Directive 2009/28/CE. 2009. 2009/28/CE.
http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:140:0016:0062:RO:PDF.
Hanley, N, and C Nevin. 1999. “Appraising Renewable Energy Developments in Remote Communities: The Case of the North Assynt Estate, Scotland.” Energy Policy 27: 527–47.
Hindess, B., & Hirst, P. (1975). Precapitalist Modes of Production. London: Routlege&Kegan Paul.
Kuhn, M. (2014). Peripheralization: Theoretical Concepts Explaining Socio-Spatial Inequalities. European Planning Studies, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2013.862518
Lang, Thilo. 2010. “Shrinkage, Metropolization and Peripherization in East Germany.” European Planning Studies, 1747–54.
OECD. 2012. “Linking Renewable Energy to Rural Development.” OECD Green Growth Studies. OECD. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264180444-en.
Organismul Intermediar Pentru Energie. 2010. “Cerere de propuneri pentru asistenta financiara nerambursabila acordata din fondurile programului operational sectorial ‘Cresterea competitivitatii economice’, cofinantat din fondul european de dezvoltare regionala.” http://old.fonduri-ue.ro/poscce/fonduri_structurale/pdf/Cerere_propuneri_proiecte_RES_apel_2010.pdf.
Organismul Intermediar pentru Energie. 2010. “Ghidul Solicitantului. Sprijin financiar acordat pentru proiectele de investiţii în valorificarea resurselor regenerabile de energie pentru producerea energiei verzi în cadrul Axei 4 a Programului Operaţional Sectorial Creşterea Competitivităţii Economice.” http://old.fonduri-ue.ro/poscce/fonduri_structurale/pdf/Ghid_IMA_final_martie_2010.pdf.
Popovici, Vlad. 2011. “2010 Power Generation Sector Restructuring in Romania—A Critical Assessment.” Energy Policy 39 (3): 1845–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2011.01.023.
Rio, Pablo del, and Marcedes Burguillo. 2008. “Assessing the Impact of Renewable Energy Deployment on Local Sustainability : Towards a Theoretical Framework.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 12: 1325–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2007.03.004.
Rogers, J.C., E.A. Simmons, I. Convery, and A. Weatherall. 2008. “Public Perceptions of Opportunities for Community-Based Renewable Energy Projects.” Energy Policy, no. 36: 4217–26.
Schreuer, Anna, and Daniela Weismeier-Sammer. 2010. “Energy Cooperatives and Local Ownership in the Field of Renewable Energy Technologies: A Literature Review.” RICC 4. Research Reports. Vienna: WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Slater, D. (1977). Resources and class structure: Notes on an alternative marxist perspective. Antipode, 9(1), 68.
Stamford, M. 2004. “Community Ownership: The Best Way Forward for UK Wind Power.” Norwich: University of East Anglia. https://www.uea.ac.uk/documents/541248/10797368/Stamford+Mike.pdf/ff325ef5-cf99-465f-8420-29606b7e686c.
Walker, Gordon. 2008. “What Are the Barriers and Incetives for Community-Owned Means of Energy Production and Use?” Energy Policy, no. 36: 4401–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.09.032.
Walker, G., & Cass, N. (2007). Carbon Reduction, “The Public” and Renewable Energy: Engaging with Socio-Technical Configurations. Area, 39(4), 458–469.
Walker, Gordon, and Patrick Devine-Wright. 2008. “Community Renewable Energy: What Should It Mean?” Energy Policy 36: 497–500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2007.10.019.
Walker, Gordon, Patrick Devine-Wright, Sue Hunter, Helen High, and Bob Evans. 2010. “Trust and Community: Exploring the Meanings, Contexts and Dynamics of Community Renewable Energy.” Energy Policy, no. 38: 2655–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2009.05.055.
Wisner, B. (2008). Does Radical Geography Lack an Approach to Environmental Relations? In Critical Geographies. A Collection of Readings (Harald Bauder and Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, p. 728). Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada: Praxis (e)Press. Retrieved from http://www.praxis-epress.org/CGR/CG_Whole.pdf
Yildiz, Özgür. 2015. “Financing Renewable Energy Infrastructures via Financial Citizen Participation The Case of Germany.” Renewable Energy 68 (March): 677–85.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors agree to publish their articles in ACME under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
