Energy Pasts and Futures: For the Common Good: Lessons from energy cooperatives in Denmark

I propose a conference contribution with an energy democracy perspective on comparative aspects of community energy development in Denmark. Locally rooted wind energy cooperatives have played an important role in this Nordic country’s clean energy transition but recently 4 out of 5 such projects have shut down. This development is associated with a turn to large investor driven industrial-scale renewable energy projects. The broader participation of cooperatives in other parts of the energy sector has received little attention. A synthesis across different technologies and types of cooperatives shows almost 800 energy cooperatives existing today. Cooperatives account for 26 percent of total turnover in Denmark’s energy sector and are especially important in electrical distribution, district heating, biogas, and onshore wind power. A novelty is the rise of energy mega cooperatives in the field of electrical distribution. These cooperatives have 100,000s of members and diverse activities in renewable energy generation and distribution. An important part of the eco-system for energy cooperatives are municipally owned energy companies. These companies were historically used to generate a revenue for municipal provision of free-of-charge welfare services like health and education. 120 years ago, the idea that urban electricity should be considered a public good, like water supply, was common. If electricity was sold, then that money should be put to work for the benefit of citizens. Despite efforts to privatize the municipal energy sector, urban municipal companies still provide not-for-profit energy services to millions of citizens. How can this legacy provide perspectives on energy futures that envision collective benefit without depleting scarce resources?