When community members participate in renewable energy planning and financing — especially with community microgrids or community solar — they facilitate the move to renewable energy, said the co-author of a new study on shared decision making from the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis.
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The study, “Public Attitudes, Co-production and Polycentric Governance in Energy Policy,” focused on projects in two towns in Austria that aim to utilize high levels of renewables — up to 100%, said Nadejda Komendantova, one of the study’s authors.
In the town of Freistadt, residents formed energy communities aimed at creating a microgrid managed by a private company. The residents could not opt out of the microgrid — which supplied all their energy needs — but they could choose among various forms of participation. They could install rooftop PV, take part in management or purchase a share of the project.