Our CESET Principal Investigator Vanesa Castán Broto, Professor of Climate Urbanism and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, recently participated in an interview for Economía on development of community energy systems to deliver renewable energy in Spain. There is growing support for local energy for local people to meet rising energy demands and the sector is moving fast and attracting new funding.
Vanesa highlighted to interviewer, Doménico Chiappe, that there were now many ways to develop community energy, from informal cooperatives to associations that own the electricity system. She said “They use renewable technologies, such as solar panels, turbines or wind generators, and the beneficiaries have a high degree of control over the management of the service that allows them to save, because it provides all the energy for their houses. They can also create a small business that sells what they have left over to the national network”. If problems associated with cost and administrative management can be addressed, in the future, Vanesa imagines a decentralized system in which everyone generates their own energy.
You can read the article in Spanish here.
You can also download a copy that has been translated into English via Google Translate here.