Full transcript available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xFLkjnracOvseSGoqhV8Q2b9Kv6R4PK_WlcdGViWksw/edit?usp=sharing Proposals by REscoop, FOE Europe et al. on RED II: Short: https://proseu.eu/sites/default/files/Resources/PROSEU_Transposition%20Guidance%20for%20REDII%20and%20EMD.pdf Long: https://www.rescoop.eu/blog/how-can-eu-member-states-support-energy-communities Power Switch by Dan...

In this last episode, we listen to what a number of our guests say community renewables needs for the future. But we also have three new guests: Ursula Sladek of German green power provider EWS Schönau talks about how Vergangenheitsbewältigung (dealing with the past) inspired her generation to take action for renewables decades ago. Julia Verlinden, energy policy spokesperson for the Greens in German parliament, talks about what plans are taking shaoe behind closed doors in Berlin. And...

Today, we speak with Stefan Gsänger of the World Wind Energy Association WWEA and with Dieter Schäfer of the grassroots renewable cooperative Gedea about the impact of the switch from feed-in tariffs to auctions on community projects. Fachagentur Wind (in German) on the results of auctions for onshore wind: https://www.fachagentur-windenergie.de/fileadmin/files/Veroeffentlichungen/Analysen/FA_Wind_500_WEA_mit_Zuschlag_in_Betrieb_05-2020.pdf "A Dangerous Trend is Challenging the Success of...

Today, we take a look at some of the countries that have used feed-in tariffs partly to ramp up community energy. Our special guests include: Stefan Gsänger, head the the World Wind Energy Association WWEA; Jose Etcheverry, Director of the International Renewable Energy Academy at York University in Toronto, Canada; and Enda Gallagher of Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. Toby Couture, David Jacobs, and Hans-Josef Fell are also back. "Energize the...

Today, our topic is a specific business form: cooperatives. Community renewable groups do not have to be coops -- but coops are great for community projects. We speak with Dirk Vansintjaan, cofounder of Ecopower, a coop that is also the largest green power provider in Flanders. He also helped found REScoop, the EU-wide umbrella organization for renewable energy coops. Then, Andreas Wieg, who handles energy coops at the German umbrella group for coops DGRV, talks about why coops are so...

Today, we talk with Prof. Maarten Wolsink, who has studied acceptance issues in infrastructure projects, especially renewable energy, for decades. He tells us what's wrong with calling people NIMBY. We briefly return to Rhein-Hunrück to speak with Frank-Michael Uhle about why acceptance was so high there before turning to Marie Leer Jorgensen, who just finished her PhD on Denmark's three policies to increase acceptance. They have been copied in other EU countries, but she problematizes the...

Is Germany's energy transition, with all of its community renewables, too expensive? Today, we talk with Prof. Justus Haucap, a critic of the price tag as the former chair of Germany's Monopoly Commision. Shuwei Zhang of the Draworld Center explains what policies China has used. Prof. Lorenz Jarass (yes, the one with the jokes!) explains how the German power market makes renewables look expensive. Consultant Uwe Nestle argues that social policy, not energy policy, should be used to protect...

Today, we speak with Paul van Son, a driving force behind the megaproject called Desertec for more than a decade. And with David Toke, a reader in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Aberdeen in the UK; he helps us understand "green certificates." Finally, we talk with Prof. Claudia Kemfert of DIW about why she has shifted from a Desertec supporter to a proponent of distributed renewables. "Ecologics" by Cymene Howe:...

German community energy projects are not just fairy tales. Today, we speak with three German community renewables projects. Frank-Michael Uhle; he’s the climate action official in the county of Rhein-Hunsrück, where Europe's largest suspended footbridge, the Geierlay Bridge, was built with revenue from local wind farms. Stefan Bayerle operates a district heat network fired with renewables in the Bavarian village of Larrieden. And Melanie Bell is a member of the all-women's co-op...

How did Germany's Feed-in Act of 1991 help wind power get going, and why only wind power? And what specifically about the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) of 2000 was better than the 1991 law? Today, we speak with community energy Dieter Mensen, policy experts Toby Couture and David Jacobs, and one of the two fathers of the EEG, Hans-Josef Fell, about these questions -- and about what policy framework (community) renewables need going forward. Tricolor, the best Irish folk music from Japan:...

Germany is known for its Renewable Energy Act (EEG) of 2000, which facilitated community renewable projects. But the EEG didn't bring about the grassroots movement; the movement brought about the Act. Today, we hear some of the voices of pioneers who got started before there was a business model. And you might be surprised how big a role the Protestant Church played.

In this episode, we talk about the shift taking place, thanks party to Fridays for Future, from finding the right price for climate action to an ethical argument. Community renewables can benefit from this shift because community energy might not always be the cheapest -- but we don't have to do what's cheapest. And without community renewables, climate action will be more difficult. The first time someone said "we have ten years to act":...