Exploring the emergence of commoning practices around local energy
Abstract
I am active in the field of local energy systems and "community renewables". I am conscious that my work to date with colleagues has focused on the technical and financial dimensions of getting PV solar panels on to schools and hospitals. We have set up an asset locked cooperative (Dorset Community Energy), raised £1.5 million and installed 25 sets of PV panels which provide free or discounted electricity. We have set up an associated cooperative, Energy Local Bridport, which links 50 households to a local wind turbine, and we have planning permission for a small ground mounted PV array which will support a further 250 households. A third project is a microgrid for the 53 houses in an affordable co-housing scheme in Bridport.
We are concerned that, to date, we have created a commons, but that the extent of "commoning" linked to an associated community has been limited. Members of Dorset Community Energy provide funds for the PV installations, and are paid back over 20 years with a small amount of interest. The PV panels sit on the roofs of schools and hospitals, but the electricity remains mostly invisible - it is a technological and financial solution but does not lead to on-going commoning.
Energy Local Bridport and the new micro-grid at Bridport Co-housing offer more possibilities to engage with local people and we would like to explore ways to develop participatory research that explores the on-going commoning processes of negotiation and decision-making, within the groups and in individual households. We feel that this will reveal something about local energy systems that is lost when the focus is just on the technical and financial dimensions. We would like to open a workshop with others in the CERN network who share this interest, who may have developed such research already, or who may be interested to work with us in developing a research approach.
