Posted on: 23rd July 2024
The context
The province of Lower Austria is intent on tackling climate change through over 300 different measures related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and raising the share of renewable energy sources. Based on the requirements and action plans put forth by the Lower Austrian Climate and Energy Program 2030, the province aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 36 percent.
Receiving its name due to its altitude as the “lower part of the Austrian territory”, Lower Austria has a significant number of agricultural industries, which contributes to it having the highest energy demand in Austria. Achieving 80% of the 2023 goals by 2025 leaves much work to be done, and Lower Austria is eager to support initiatives that will contribute towards reaching this target.
That’s why the Energy and Environment Agency Lower Austria (eNu) provides different actors in the region with information and support for activities regarding energy, climate, and the environment. As a result of the new program and regulations, many citizens have become pro-actively involved on the topic, one of them being the energy community of Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk.
As wonderland, we’ve also created a documentary on the community initiative (see video link below).
Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk
The Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk energy community is located in Aggsbach by the Danube river, in Lower Austria.
The initiative consists of concerned citizens with a desire to improve sustainable living and awareness in their communities. They are active in a series of regional projects (all initiated through their energy community), including taking part in helping toads safely cross a regional road, organizing tours on the history of the region, and even community cooking events.
The main purpose of their initiative however, is to promote local energy production. With this purpose in mind, a small group of active members came together to build up their own energy community while networking with other communities in the region.
Focusing mainly on the production of renewable energy on a local level, Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk plans to establish democratic measures to govern the community in a way that different voices are heard, and contributions and results are shared.
How the energy community was formed
The region is known for its beautiful nature and tradition of wine production. The two settlements of Schönbühel and Aggsbach are administratively classified as one village. The last few years has seen locals actively engage in environmental protection measures. One example is the “toad migration” in spring, organized by a group of 15 people, aiding the toads and helping them migrate from the forest to the river.
The local community being heavily involved in environmental protection actions has acted as one of the incubators for forming the energy community. Erich Lagler, a local representative of the green party in the administration, and Martina Kuchler, had solar panels constructed on their building, through which they also began producing energy for the neighbourhood. Then, they had the idea of enlarging this small-scale energy production project into something bigger. Erich is well informed about legal initiatives due to his participation of the Green Party in the government.
Indeed, the green party made the renewable energy law possible, which is what enables private and collective initiatives to form and operate. Together, with Klaus Neundlinger, Erich and Martina formed an association to receive funding to enlarge the initiative. Thus, the Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk energy community was formed: with the idea to promote the production of renewable energy and construct a network of producers and consumers.
The energy community is well perceived in the neighbourhood, with many locals interested in joining the group. Many already have solar plants on their roofs and can join the community as producers or consumers. The local government further supports such initiatives vocally by organising events to discuss the opportunities available for citizens to establish such energy communities. However, there remains significant untapped potential in utilising public spaces for energy production. It is crucial that the local government organises such sessions to discuss what can be done.
During an interview for the Wonderland documentary, founders of the Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk community stated that these basic services have long been delegated to energy companies and public administrations, and with the crisis that hit during the COVID pandemic and since, with rising energy costs, people began questioning their lack of involvement in the process. The group is utilizing this new found awareness as an impetus to promote citizens self-organizing and seeking solutions.
Independence and collaboration
Every energy community is different in how they collaborate with municipalities. There are also energy communities that are established through direct local government involvement, however Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk has found it important to ensure they maintain control over how they develop their community, which is why they prefer to be independent and not too intertwined with the municipality or politics.
What is at play is a shift from understanding energy and the necessary infrastructure as something which only concerns the municipality and energy companies, to something including citizen involvement. The tricky balance to be found here is how municipalities can support an energy community, while the community retains independence and the authority to decide internally on how to develop and operate. The same goes for cooperating with the grid providers and the relations between them and local energy communities. As more communities are formed, these considerations will become essential to tackle.
Setting up a decentralized network of communities could help give energy communities a more powerful and impactful position towards the grid provider – particularly against the big energy company mindset that is intent on maintaining control, according to the group.
Engaging with the region and the community
For Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk, creating strong ties with local and regional actors is a core and essential part of developing the community. Erich and Martina regularly attend regional assemblies, where they gather information and network with other initiatives. Klaus emphasizes that it is crucial to promote the initiative and to clearly communicate its advantages. Justification of energy communities might’ve been a bit more challenging prior to the increase in energy prices, however there is a clear benefit when citizens check their energy prices now. This new paradigm provides energy communities an advantage in strengthening their network. In order to grow however, the engagement needs to be based on facts.
It is important to know what people want and what the community can offer, and how connecting producers and consumers will be. The community is learning as they go.
Energy communities bring people with different backgrounds together to participate in the production and distribution of renewable energy. Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk is no different, with the founding members coming from the IT sector, the health sector, and academia. As the community is still small, it is rather easy to govern. However, as Klaus mentions, when the community grows in size, it will become crucial to establish means for democratic participation and decision-making.
Governance and growth
When it comes to governing energy communities, there is no one-size-fits-all model, and it is up to the community to decide how decisions are made and how they can benefit the community as a whole. While the main goal of energy communities is the production and distribution of energy, the process has different aspects to it, diversifying the purpose.
There are members who would prefer to act as producers and obtain a financial gain of sorts, while there are others who simply desire cheaper energy, as well as those who want to be part of the community for the common good. The objectives, interests, and resources of the community members and what they can offer needs to be correctly understood in order to create a community in which different needs are met. This makes the engagement and good will of all participants essential. It all comes down to organising the activities so that one does not just take, but also gives.
Funding and support
Like many other energy communities in Austria, Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk is funded through national funding, since it is set up as an association. The requirement is based on Austrian legislation on energy communities, and Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk received approximately 24 thousand euros for the establishment.
As the community is small, additional funding needs have not been identified. As more infrastructure is put in place for a growing community, this will most likely change. While there is a legal threshold for how big the energy community can be, the constitution that is created by the energy community also guides the development. The group maintains that given the association constitution is oriented towards the common good, there should be no limit on the number of participants.
They add that it’s difficult to ascertain an exact number at which the common good begins or ends, and they have a point.
Lessons learned
There are many energy communities with positive experiences in Austria, as well as legal and organisational forms that support these initiatives, such as the renewable energy law. Such laws make establishing an energy community fairly straightforward from a legal point of view. However, Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk, through their experiences, has seen the current shortcomings of effectively operating an energy community.
As a result of these experiences, they maintain that the community needs to be geographically limited, in order to avoid running into problems with the grid provider. Furthermore, given that the grid operator in the region is a monopoly, and that the task of technically connecting homes in the neighbourhood under the umbrella of the community is a daunting task, the support of the grid operator is essential for such decentralised initiatives. Without their cooperation, the sharing of energy becomes impossible. Finally, without the support of locals to join in, the energy community cannot grow. This is something that no law or regulation can guide, but it is up to the people to understand the benefit and value of joining. For Klaus, this is one of the main challenges to tackle.
Looking forward
Looking at the future of energy communities, Klaus sees them as the suitable option for providing energy for us and those around us. He maintains that following an economic boom and a generation growing in abundance and wealth, we are in a period in which we need to change our mindsets and prepare ourselves for the responsible use of energies and resources. There is a need for individuals to get involved and understand the concept of producing energy, as well as the advantages of organizing energy production in a decentralized way.
We are in a period in which there is a wide spread awareness on the topic of energy production. Communities are becoming aware that establishing a responsible attitude and practicing use of resources is important. of using resources. There is a cultural shift that is taking place through the increased understanding how we use resources, from where and for what.
For Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk, the constitution is not just limited to energy provision, but also extended to concerns of the community, such as the history of the community, and wellbeing of the local nature. For the region of Schönbühel and Aggsbach, the shared sense of responsibility for, and appropriation of nature will guide how Bürger*innenKRAFTwerk develops as one of many initiatives striving to protect the local environment.
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