Just Energy Communities

The project’s main objective is to explore how energy communities can generate various types of social benefits – such as engagement, cohesion, fairness, and democratic participation – while also identifying and preventing possible “social disbenefits,” including exclusion, inequality, or reduced accountability. A central premise is that social benefits do not automatically reinforce one another, and that certain conditions that support one goal may actually undermine another. Understanding these goal conflicts is therefore crucial for designing robust and sustainable energy communities.

Four specific objectives guide the project:

1. To synthesize international and Swedish research on the social benefits and drawbacks of energy communities.
2. To analyze how organizational, political, and social conditions influence different groups’ willingness to participate.
3. To examine citizens’ motivations, barriers, and lived experiences of participation, including both positive and negative social effects.
4. To study how policy actors’ actions affect energy communities’ ability to achieve social goals.

The project is structured into six work packages and combines several complementary research methods. It begins with a systematic literature review following the PRISMA method, covering academic studies, policy reports, and media material to map documented social effects and their contextual drivers. This is followed by a large survey experiment, supported by register data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), to analyze how organizational design, trust, municipal support, and socioeconomic factors influence participation and potential participation bias.

In addition, the project conducts case studies of at least two energy communities on Gotland, including Austerland Energy Community and Storsudrets Solar Park. These studies use interviews, observations, and workshops to explore how different forms of energy flexibility and local organization shape social outcomes. The project also applies action research, allowing for continuous dialogue with practitioners and stakeholders while generating real-world insights.

A fourth empirical component focuses on policy actors, using focus groups and interviews with municipalities, grid operators, community founders, and support organizations. This enables analysis of how policies, regulations, and governance practices can either support or hinder socially sustainable energy communities across different Swedish regions.

The project places strong emphasis on knowledge utilization. A dedicated work package ensures that results are translated into policy briefs, workshops, training courses, and public dialogue activities. The goal is not only to disseminate findings but to actively influence policy development and implementation.