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Jenny Palm

Jenny Palm

Head of department

Jenny Palm

Distributed Energy Systems and Energy Communities Under Negotiation

Author

  • Anna Riikka Kojonsaari
  • Jenny Palm

Summary, in English

New decentralized energy-generation technologies have turned economies of scale upside down while becoming more economically viable. At the same time, the increased penetration of information technologies has led to new opportunities to manage infrastructure in a less hierarchical, more flexible way. Together with citizen demands for control over energy, these two converging trends has put energy communities (ECs) on the agenda, potentially advancing the transition towards more sustainable energy systems, despite hindrances encountered on the way. This paper presents a case study of the planning process of a sustainable city district in Sweden, using participatory observations and interviews conducted with included stakeholders. We analyse how the included stakeholders has reasoned about establishing a sustainable energy system in the area, including a microgrid. The discussions on a microgrid comprised two parallel discourses, coexisting but seldomly explicitly confronted. The distribution system operator in the area promoted a distributed energy system (DES) solution, while the property developers opted for a microgrid organized more as a citizen energy community (CEC). We discuss why the CEC proponents so far has lost the battle of creating a community owned smart grid. We conclude that the different models, a DES and a CEC, comprise different values and an increased focus on energy communities could shift the transition pathway towards a more decentralized system involving other prioritise than just economical.

Department/s

  • The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics

Publishing year

2021-12

Language

English

Publication/Series

Technology and Economics of Smart Grids and Sustainable Energy

Volume

6

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Energy Systems
  • Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Keywords

  • Citizen energy community
  • Distributed energy systems
  • Energy community
  • Energy planning process
  • Smart grid

Status

Published

Project

  • Resistance and effect – on smart grids for the many people
  • NEWCOMERS (New Clean Energy Communities in a Changing European Energy System)

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2199-4706