Title:
Enabling Legislation to Increase Public Acceptance for Res Projects Across Europe - Co-power
Author(s):
Mergner, R., Rutz, D., Janssen, R., Scherbarth, S.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
Public support is a key to reaching the EU's 2020 Renewable Energy Sources (RES) target. Community RES projects can turn public opposition into support for new RES installations and infrastructure, including grids. It is demonstrated that if citizens are actively involved in RES projects from the initial proposal, and the economic and social benefits of such projects are shared, public acceptance is far higher. Community ownership of renewable energy plants can mobilise local investment, improve public acceptance of RES and increase local community benefits of renewable energy. There are several European examples of how citizen involvement has accelerated the development of RES. However, the share of community owned renewable energy plants differs a lot in European countries. In many EU countries, existing legislation does not provide sufficient support for, or even impedes, community ownership models. In Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, upfront financing is a particularly large barrier to achieving a higher share of RES. Thus, there is a need to research and advocate for innovative public-private financing mechanisms, and for making funds from the EU budget available to community RES projects. The problem of enabling legislation for and financing of community RES projects at the European, national and local level is addressed by the CO-POWER project (Enabling legislation to increase acceptance for RES projects across Europe) which is supported by the Intelligent Energy for Europe Programme of the European Union.
Keywords:
renewable energy, renewable energies, public acceptance, community ownership models, legislation, european coalition
Topic:
Biomass Policies, Markets and Sustainability
Subtopic:
Markets, Investments & Financing
Event:
21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
5CV.2.9
Pages:
1991 - 1994
ISBN:
978-88-89407-53-0
Paper DOI:
10.5071/21stEUBCE2013-5CV.2.9
Price:
FREE
