Content

Citizens as owners of renewable energy systems are of great importance, as energy cooperatives are experiencing a "start-up boom". When participating in a cooperative power plant project, participants have different objectives: ecological motives, regional value creation, profit, interest in technology or a gain of distinction. These differences in goals can lead to conflicts which are mentioned as a common problem in the literature, but have not been a research subject in itselves so far. These conflicts may strongly affect the implementation of the cooperative project especially in its initial phase. This project therefore aims at:

1. the identification of typical conflict situations (actors, goals, patterns)
2. the assessment of the effects of conflict on the performance of the projects
3. the development of tools for successful conflict management

The project draws on concepts from identity and conflict research and applies mainly qualitative methods such as interviews, participant observation and content analysis. The project results will consist of tools for the successful anticipation and handling of specific conflicts in projects for cooperative renewable power plants. The results will be communicated through guidelines and also taught in trainings if necessary.

Project Members

ISR (Prof. Dr. Carsten Herbes, Judith Rognli, Vasco Brummer), Alanus University of Bonn

Partners

Baden-Württembergischer Genossenschaftsverband e.V. (bwgv), Landesnetzwerk Ehrenamtlicher Energieinitiativen (LEE) Baden-Württemberg, Klimaschutz- und Energieagentur Baden-Württemberg GmbH (KEA), Energieagentur Landkreis Esslingen, Teckwerke Bürgerenergie eG, EnBW Regional AG Regionalzentrum Neckar-Alb, Stadtwerke Nürtingen GmbH

Duration:

Q4/2013 – Q1/2016

Public funding:

Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector, Baden-Württemberg (BWPLUS)