Participatory Impetus for and Forms of Citizens’ Co-Owned Power Plants: Cases from Higashi-Ohmi, Japan

Hui-Tzu Huang and Rüdiger Glaser
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Hui-Tzu Huang: Risk Sociey and Policy Research Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Rüdiger Glaser: Institute of Physical Geography, University of Freiburg, 79110 Freiburg, Germany

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-26

Abstract: Citizen-led local participation is considered the key to a successful energy transition, and citizens’ co-owned power plants are an alternative and representative form of local participation. The extent to which citizens’ co-owned power plants can embody “locality, democracy, participation, energy autonomy, poverty reduction, and energy justice” has led to many controversial discussions. In response to these meaningful questions, this study argues for the focus to return to the impetus and driving forces of local participation in energy. This study proposes six possibilities for the impetus of local energy participation and the types of participation they may create. In the case analysis of the Higashi-Ohmi Model, in addition to the compound disaster of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and the transformation of the Japanese power grid, the driving factors depend on the self-consciousness of local promoters who insist on independence from policy influence. By linking local networks to discuss “local needs,” the residents form an integrated plan of “agricultural self-sufficiency, care system, and energy autonomy.” They promote the overall economic cycle of the region with energy regional energy currency, which inspired other rural forms of citizen energy participation. In addition, the simultaneous development of small-scale local enterprises and the ability of the local government to adjust policies centered on the needs of residents are important conditions for implementing the Higashi-Ohmi model.

Keywords: co-owned power plant; participation; energy transition; regional currency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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