Community renewable energy in the Western Balkans: A social experiment led insights into community capacity to self-govern

People can actively join the energy transition by participating in social infrastructure-based local renewable energy projects. Such social approaches to energy transition are emerging in affluent communities with high community capacity to self-govern. Still, regulatory bodies often prefer and subsidise large-scale green-field investments to the disadvantage of community renewable energy approaches. This paper describes the “School of the Future Initiative” in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia, which implemented 10 school roof PV projects in 10 communities with low community capacity to self-govern. Therefore, based on an in-depth analysis, the paper discusses the social coordination capacity of community organizations and associations, the ability of community members to effectively access both bonding and bridging social capital, the ability of community members to leverage their shared histories and perspectives, and the stability of social networks within the community to implement the initiative. We argue that policymakers should recognize the multidimensional contribution community renewable projects can play to delivering climate and social justice outcomes by substantiating the local democracy process required for their achievement. In addition, we also argue that because the green energy transition and diversification of production capacity will require massive investments facilitated by significant policy and regulatory reforms, community energy initiatives should be regulatory preferred to avoid the perpetuation of oligopolistic markets similar to those under the fossil fuel regime. Finally, we conclude that a market concentration similar to those in the case of fossil energy production markets could, in the long run, undermine local economic growth and capacity to distribute outcomes across social groups and local communities, further hindering the democratic potential of distributive energy production and governance.