Acts of energy citizenship in community solar gardens

Abstract

Characterised as sites of energy citizenship, community energy projects help people locked out of the corporate green energy and rooftop solar markets to participate in the renewable energy transition. However, the environmental politics of community energy projects cannot be assumed. Drawing from document analysis and semi-structured interviews with community energy organisers, advocates and participants, we compare two projects in New South Wales, Australia. We show that community energy projects accommodate different forms of energy citizenship, with implications for their ability to address existing exclusions and injustices of a market-led energy transition. We demonstrate that community energy projects have struggled to enhance low-income households’ access to renewable energy while simultaneously facilitating democratic participation in energy governance. In identifying the challenges that these projects have faced, we contribute to debates about how community energy projects can realise a just transition to renewable energy.