Can local government play a greater role for community renewable energy? A case study from Australia
Can local government play a greater role for community renewable energy? A case study from Australia
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DOI：
10.1016/j.erss.2016.06.019
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发表时间：
2016-11
影响因子：
6.7
通讯作者：
F. Mey;M. Diesendorf;I. MacGill
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
F. Mey;M. Diesendorf;I. MacGill
尽管澳大利亚对可再生能源（RE）的政治条件并不支持，但一场新的运动正在兴起。大约 70 个澳大利亚社区团体已开始接受社区可再生能源 (CRE) 的概念并开发自己的项目。然而，面对复杂的制度环境和国家政府支持的缺乏，迄今为止只有少数团体建立了可运营的商业地产项目。在这种情况下，“最贴近人民”的地方政府（LG）的作用值得更多关注。通过提供来自澳大利亚范围内的调查和大量半结构化访谈的经验证据，我们确定了地方政府在可再生能源部署中的动机、障碍和机遇，并特别关注地方政府在推动可再生能源计划方面的作用。我们的调查发现，地方政府的可再生能源发电已成为一项广泛的预算相关活动。大多数地方政府尚未认识到可再生能源领域社区合作带来的社会效益。然而，明显的财务和监管障碍限制了地方政府及其社区的行动范围，因此更高级别的政府支持至关重要。澳大利亚的经验对其他具有类似政治和制度障碍的国家具有借鉴意义。
Despite unsupportive political conditions for renewable energy (RE) in Australia, a new movement is emerging. About 70 Australian community groups have started to embrace the concept of community renewable energy (CRE) and develop their own projects. However, faced with a complex institutional environment and the absence of national government support, only a few groups have established operating CRE projects as yet. In this situation the role of local government (LG) ‘closest to the people’ deserves more attention. By presenting empirical evidence from an Australia-wide survey and a number of semi-structured interviews, we identify motivations, barriers and opportunities of LGs in RE deployment, giving special attention to the role LGs in enabling CRE initiatives. Our survey finds that RE generation by LGs has become a widespread budget relevant activity. The majority of LGs have yet to recognise the social benefits associated with a community collaboration in the field of RE. However perceived financial and regulatory barriers limit the scope of action for LGs and their communities, and higher-level government support is essential. The Australian experience is relevant to other countries with similar political and institutional barriers.