Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an instrument towards the energy transition in Spain

Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 1 Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an instrument towards the energy transition in Spain Iñigo Capellán-Pérez1, Álvaro Campos-Celador2, Jon Terés-Zubiaga2 1Research Group on Energy, Economy and System Dynamics. Escuela de Ingenierías Industriales, Paseo del Cauce s/n, University of Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain 2Dep. of Thermal Engineering - University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain. Corresponding authors: [email protected], alvaro.cam[email protected], [email protected] Keywords: renewable energy cooperatives; energy democracy; transition to renewable energies; Spain; community energy Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) from the paper published in Energy Policy: Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 2 Highlights: • Renewable energies offer a key transformative potential from a social point of view. • Few RES cooperatives exist in Spain despite thousands of them currently exist in Europe. • Current economic-political context is found to be the main barrier for their development. • Spanish RES cooperatives feature particular organizational and operating structures. • A flexible and conducive legislative framework might stimulate their development. Abstract Renewable Energy Sources (RES) offer a key transformative potential from a social point of view due to their modularity and capacity to generate energy at local level, allowing for the development of democratic and participative bottom-up initiatives. Spanish RES cooperatives, unlike other European countries, are few in number. Here, we review their development by applying the Multi-Level Perspective approach. Spanish RES cooperatives have recently come up against a hostile regulatory and economic context, which has induced specific organizational and operating structures such as the application of innovative participation methods and investment tools. RES cooperatives regularly collaborate in sharing learning processes and experiences, having also demonstrated their capacity to spread new ideas at both social and political levels. However, despite their growth and territorial spread over the last few years, RES cooperatives still have a minor presence in the Spanish energy system. Although some internal factors may limit their potential as an active instrument towards the transition to RES in the country, the regime’s resistance is found to be the main barrier. This paper concludes with some recommendations for policy makers and RES cooperatives to enhance its potential role in the forthcoming energy transition process. List of abbreviations: • RES: Renewable Energy Sources • PV: Photovoltaic Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 3 • CSP: Concentrating Solar Thermal • USA: United States of America • MLP: Multi-Level Perspective • EU: European Union • REC: Renewable Energy Certificate • SR: Special Regime • GCC: Gas Combined Cycle • Px1NME: Platform for a New Energy Model Table of contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 4 2. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 9 3. Development of RES cooperatives within the Spanish context .......................................... 11 3.1. The Spanish electricity sector ..................................................................................... 13 3.1.1. Regime promotion of RES in the electricity sector (1997-2012) ........................ 13 3.1.2. Regime resistance to RES in the electricity sector (from 2012).......................... 16 3.2. Spanish RES cooperatives niche ................................................................................. 22 3.3. Evolution of Spanish RES cooperatives in a hostile context ...................................... 27 4. Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 30 4.1 Potential of RES cooperatives as an instrument towards the energy transition in Spain .. 30 4.1.1. Strengths .................................................................................................................... 30 4.1.2. Barriers ...................................................................................................................... 33 4.1.3. Opportunities ............................................................................................................. 35 4.2. Lessons from the experience of Spanish RES cooperatives ............................................. 38 5. Conclusions and policy implications ................................................................................... 40 Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 44 Appendix A ............................................................................................................................. 44 Appendix B ............................................................................................................................. 47 References ................................................................................................................................... 50 Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 4 1. Introduction The transition from fossil fuels to Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is an indispensable condition to achieve sustainable socio-economic systems. In particular, the interconnected challenges of climate change and fossil fuel depletion require active policies towards a fast RES transition (Capellán-Pérez et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2017). This transition is very challenging for advanced industrialized countries, where energy consumption has increased 10-15 times since the Industrial Revolution and is currently dominated by fossil fuel resources, as well as for the so-called “developing” countries, due to their lack of financial resources and expertise while facing rapid increases in energy demand (Smil, 2008). Despite their environmental impact, fossil fuels are characterized by favorable physical-chemical properties (e.g. high power density, storable, inert at standard ambient conditions, etc.) that allow manageable, high-quality energy flows to easily supply human societies. In contrast, RES are generally characterized by lower power density levels, their use competes with other processes of the biosphere, while those with a higher potential (i.e. wind, solar) are critically affected by their intermittence and variability (de Castro et al., 2013; Hall and Klitgaard, 2012; Smil, 2015, 2015, 2008; Trainer, 2017, 2012, 2010). However, RES offer a key transformative potential from a social point of view due to their modularity and capacity to generate energy at a local level, allowing for the development of local, democratic and participative bottom-up initiatives. So, the collective ownership of RES allows the democratization of access to capital (or the means of production), and thus it has the potential to contribute to the energy transition in a socially more profound way than a mere technological fix (Barca, 2011; Huybrechts, 2013; Johanisova and Wolf, 2012; Kunze and Becker, 2015; Schneider et al., 2010). For this reason, it has the support of social movements that oppose opencast mining, fracking and fuel poverty. Additionally, the participation of local communities in the decision-making and management concerning new RES projects substantially helps to mitigate the so-called Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) effect (Avila, 2018; Huybrechts and Mertens, 2014). Amongst RES, solar photovoltaic (PV), onshore Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 5 wind and biomass heating are particularly attractive technologies for citizens due to their maturity, modularity, simplicity, high reliability and the availability of technical service providers, while those technologies requiring larger investments are financially unappealing to citizens (e.g. large hydro-electric power production, offshore wind power and geothermal energy) (Romero-Rubio and de Andrés Díaz, 2015). Cooperatives and municipal utilities are the two most common collective alternatives to traditional ownership structures (Becker and Kunze, 2014; Kunze and Becker, 2014; REN21, 2016). Since Spain lacks a tradition of municipal utilities, this paper is focused on RES cooperatives1, which refer to a business model where citizens jointly own and participate in RES and energy efficiency projects. Cooperatives follow the following principles: voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; economic participation and direct ownership; autonomy and independence; education, training and information; cooperation between cooperatives and community; and environmental concern (REScoop, 2016). Hence, this model presents clear advantages to tackle the global environmental crisis in relation to the technocratic approach based on centralized ownership and electricity generation, given that the sustainability crisis is both a technic and social challenge. Around 3,000 organizations have been reported as RES cooperatives across Europe, although with an uneven distribution (Huybrechts and Mertens, 2014; REScoop, 2016). A recent review found that “Energy Democracy” projects have spread mostly in Western Europe (Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany,2 Austria, Northern Italy, Sweden, the UK and France), and to a 1 Many terms are used in the literature for a similar concept despite different legal forms of organization: “collective and politically motivated renewable energy projects (CPEs)” (Becker and Kunze, 2014), “Sustainable energy communities (SECs)” (Romero-Rubio and de Andrés Díaz, 2015), “Renewable energy communities (RECs)” (Doci et al., 2015), “REScoops” (the European Federation of Energy Cooperatives, REScoop.eu), “Local Renewable Energy Organisations” (LREO) (Boon and Dieperink, 2014), etc. For the sake of simplicity and to avoid creating a new term, in this article, we use “Renewable Energy Sources cooperatives“, i.e. “RES cooperatives” (or “RE cooperatives” in the line of (Huybrechts and Mertens, 2014)). 2 (Debor, 2014) report 942 RES production cooperatives in Germany by 31st December 2013. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 6 lesser extent in Spain and southern Italy. These organizations are also being developed in countries where RES play only a relatively small role in the energy mix, such as France, the Netherlands or the UK. In spite of a high share of wind energy, no signs of local and democratic energy projects were found in Portugal and the Baltic countries. This is also the case for other countries where energy supply is dominated by fossil fuels, such as many of the countries in Eastern and Central Europe (Kunze and Becker, 2014). The model, with a great diversity of typologies, is present and growing in other regions of the world, such as Asia, Latin America and Africa. (ILO, 2013; REN21, 2016). Even though there is no straightforward explanation for addressing the differences in the level of development of RES cooperatives in different countries, key factors are the historical influence of the ecologist and anti-nuclear movements, the spread of municipal utilities, the impact of the oil shock in the 1970s, together with the related policy-responses and the particular sociopolitical-cultural context (Bermejo, 2013; Huybrechts and Mertens, 2014). These organizations perform three main economic functions: the generation, distribution and retailing of renewable energy, usually under the form of electricity, although examples also exist for heating and transport. Many cooperatives dealing with RES generation can be found across Europe. In general, European RES cooperatives started in the 1970s and 1980s with the promotion of communityowned wind energy projects but, as time went by, new RES were incorporated into their activity, such as PV production or even meeting heating needs by the use of biomass boilers o solar thermal panels connected to District Heating networks (Agterbosch et al., 2004; Boon and Dieperink, 2014; DEA, 2017; Enzensberger et al., 2003; Gotchev, 2015; Kunze and Becker, 2014; Madlener, 2007; Schreuer and Weismeier-Sammer, 2010; Vansintjan, 2015). The specific ownership structure of the electric system in each country determines the opportunity of RES cooperatives to distribute renewable electricity. Thus, RES cooperatives are more likely to distribute electricity in those places where the electric network is publicly owned and privately Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 7 operated after a public tender. This is the case of Germany, where citizen owned cooperatives have recently acquired the management of 90 local distribution networks around the country, alongside a wave of re-municipalization of energy networks and supply (Julian, 2014; Wagner et al., 2015). In the case of the USA, over 800 rural electric cooperatives distribute electricity to around 42 million people. Despite they use a limited share of RES generation, their contribution is rapidly increasing (Bermejo, 2013; NRECA, 2016). RES cooperatives can also retail energy, which consists of buying energy on the market and selling it to domestic consumers (often members). However, in some cases, such as the electricity sector, the fact that most markets have only recently opened up to competition and are still de facto controlled by a small number of electrical companies makes the operation of RES cooperatives more difficult (Huybrechts, 2013). Amongst the most significant RES cooperatives at the European level, the following can be found: Enercoop (France), comprising 10 second-order regional cooperatives (42,000 members) and 131 producers (81 MW), which delivers 245 GWh of renewable electricity to its 52,000 customers (40% of self-sufficiency); Ecopower (Belgium), with over 50,000 members and owning a diversity of RES power plants; Energy4All (UK) which comprises 15 projects with over 10,000 members and a total equity raised of £30 million; Middelgrunden (Denmark), the first offshore wind cooperative in the country, where in 1997, about 8,600 local citizens jointly invested in a 10.2 MW offshore wind farm facing Copenhagen (REScoop, 2016); EWS (Germany) was the first civil-society initiative to take over the grid and electricity supply to a local community in the country (Schönau), and currently supplies electricity and biogas to over 160,000 members across the country and subsidizes approximately 2,600 sustainable generation units (EWS, 2016). Som Energia (Spain) can be ranked amongst the largest RES cooperatives in Europe with over 40,000 members and over 60,000 customers around the country, owning several plants of RES electricity generation that produce over 5 GWh annually (Kunze and Becker, 2014; Som Energia, 2016). Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 8 In Spain, unlike in other countries of Europe and despite the rapid success of Som Energia, the modern RES cooperative movement is at an early stage of development. As a result, the academic literature analyzing this phenomenon in the country is scarce to date (Riutort Isern, 2015; RomeroRubio and de Andrés Díaz, 2015). In this paper, the historical development of energy cooperatives in the country from the 19th century to the recent wave focusing on RES is reviewed, with the aim of assessing their potential as an effective instrument towards a democratic, sustainable and decentralized RES transition in Spain. Since Spanish RES cooperatives focus mainly on electricity, the recent developments in the Spanish electricity sector is also reviewed. To do so, the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) is applied, which is a framework for analyzing socio-technical transitions, taking into account the role and capacity of the actors in the regimes as they dynamically react to potential changes threatening the status quo (Geels, 2014, 2010, 2002; Smith et al., 2005). Hence, the confrontation between the RES cooperatives emerging movement and the Spanish socio-political context is analyzed. Spain can be regarded as an interesting case study since, unlike other European countries, modern RES cooperatives have recently arisen in a hostile regulatory and economic context, creating particular organizational and operating structures to deal with the regime’s resistance (Haas, 2014; Riutort Isern, 2015). Moreover, Spain benefits from a large RES potential in comparison to other EU countries, especially for solar, due to its southern location. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 describes the applied methodology, including the MLP approach. Section 3 reviews the development of RES cooperatives in Spain. Section 4 discusses, on the one hand (4.1), the strengths, barriers and opportunities of Spanish RES cooperatives as a means towards the transition to RES in Spain, and on the other, the lessons to be extracted which could be applicable to other countries (4.2). Finally, Section 5 concludes. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 9 2. Methodology The methodology applied to perform the analysis consisted of two stages. First, the review of both academic publications and grey literature3, as well as information stemming from the direct participation and membership of the three authors in two RES cooperatives (Som Energia and EnergÉtica), allowed us to compile the relevant information about the emerging RES cooperative movement in Spain. A preliminary version of the manuscript was reviewed by seven researchers and members of different RES cooperatives around the country to ensure the consistency of the analysis. Secondly, the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) was applied to assess the potential of RES cooperatives as an effective instrument towards a RES transition in Spain based on democratic, sustainable and decentralized production. MLP is a methodology to analyze the dynamics between the different agents taking part in any transition process, which could be defined as large scale transformations of a societal subsystem. Even though the MLP approach was initially proposed for the assessment of technological transitions, it has also been applied to such sociotechnical transitions as the so-called “green”, “sustainable” or “low-carbon transitions” (Doci et al., 2015; Geels, 2014, 2010, 2002; Smith et al., 2005). The MLP approach identifies three sociotechnical levels through which transitions occur: landscape, regime and niche level. The three levels form a nested hierarchy; whose co-evolution is necessary in order to achieve a transition (see Table 1). Table 1: Description of the three levels considered by the MLP methodology. Level Description Landscape Includes the external factors that shape the regime and are beyond its influence (i.e. exogenous), such as societal values, dominant political 3 Grey literature are materials and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 16 Although Spanish society supported the development of RES generation (EC, 2007a, 2007b), this was rather a passive attitude (Haas, 2016). Most RES generation capacity was promoted by the largest traditional companies in the electricity and construction sectors (see section 3.1.2 and (Romero-Rubio and de Andrés Díaz, 2015)). Indeed, no RES cooperative focusing on generation was created in this period, and only from 2010, when cooperatives where allowed to retail electricity (Romero-Rubio and de Andrés Díaz, 2015), new RES cooperatives were created in the country (see section 3.2). Although some decreasing support to RES took place between 2008 and 2012, it was primarily a correction of disproportionate policy measures (Ciarreta et al., 2014; Haas, 2016). Thus, we consider the year 2012 as being the turning point from regime support to resistance in the deployment of RES in the electricity sector in Spain. 3.1.2. Regime resistance to RES in the electricity sector (from 2012) The economic crisis broke the historical growth trend of electricity consumption in Spain (+5% average per year from 1995 to 2008), leading to a reduction of around 10% in comparison to the historical maximum in 2008 (Figure 2B). During these years, in parallel to the promotion of new RES technologies, there was a surge in the installed capacity of gas combined cycle (GCC) by the largest traditional electricity companies. Figure 2A shows the increase in installed capacity in GCC from the early 2000s, which became the technology with the highest installed capacity in peninsular Spain in 2007 (~25 GW). As a consequence of the large amount of installed capacity in parallel with a reduction in demand, the Spanish electric system resulted in a situation of large overcapacity.7 Since the electricity market gives priority to the generation from the SR, GCC currently covers less than 10% of electricity generation, with around 25% of the total installed 7 Defining overcapacity in the electricity system for a given year as a ratio between the annual potential generation (installed capacity * 8760 h/year) and the annual electricity available for final consumption, the Spanish electricity system reached an overcapacity of 3.0 in 2008 (3.7 in 2015), while the EU-29 average was 2.5 the same year (2.8 in 2015), well above other countries, such as Germany (2.3 in 2008 and 2.8 in 2015), France (2.4 in 2008 and 2.5 in 2015) or UK (2.2 in 2008 and 2.5 in 2015) (Eurostat, 2018). See also: (del Río and Janeiro, 2016). Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 17 capacity, generating just 25% of the electricity supplied in 2008 (REE, 2016a). In other words, the GCC has been displaced from the electricity production market. At this point of the analysis, it is relevant to analyze the ownership of electricity power plants in Spain by technology and utility in more detail. Figure 3 (see also Appendix B) shows that, by 2015, the five utilities associated in UNESA comprised over 80% of the installed capacity of the Ordinary Regime (100% of nuclear, 97% of coal, 86% of large hydro and almost 80% of GCC), against just 31% of RES. In relation to the latter, UNESA utilities have directed most of their RES investments to wind (91%), their participation in other RES being very limited (remaining 9%). As a result, UNESA owns almost 50% of the wind power capacity installed in the country. In fact, the degree of ownership concentration depends on the technology; while for wind there is a high degree of ownership concentration (in 2014, 10 large energy companies owned approximately 73% of the installed wind power capacity (AEE, 2016)), the PV sector is highly atomized, numerous installations exist and many facilities with power capacities below 100 kW are owned by small individual investors. As a result, the leading operators only have a small share (12.8%) of the Spanish PV market ((DBK, 2014) cited by (Romero-Rubio and de Andrés Díaz, 2015)). Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 18 Figure 3: Estimation of the installed power capacity (MW) by technology and utility for the year 2015 in Spain. Rest of RES includes: solar PV, solar CSP, biomass & waste and mini-hydraulic. Sources: see Appendix B. Furthermore, the economic downturn from the year 2007 evidenced that the liberalization process of the electricity market had failed in many aspects (Haas, 2016; Riutort Isern, 2015). Despite the Law 54/1997 enforcing the separation between operations of the different sectors of the electricity supply chain, traditional utilities have constituted clusters allowing them to cover all the economic activities from generation to the retailing of electricity in order to bypass the regulation.8 In 2013, the traditional utilities coordinated in UNESA comprised: 72% of the generation, 98% of the distribution and 80% of the retailing of electricity in the country (UNESA, 2014). Spain’s electricity system management is characterized by a lack of transparency: the transportation and distribution costs are currently self-audited by REE and the utilities and accepted by the State. Since the Government has the competence to set an upper limit to electricity tariffs, a mismatch 8 E.g. Iberdrola cluster (“Grupo Iberdrola”) comprises: “Iberdrola Generación España SA” for the production of electricity, “Iberdrola Distribución Eléctrica SA” for the distribution, “Iberdrola Clientes SA” for the retailing activity. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 19 can occur between the operation costs declared by the utilities and the prices paid by the consumers. In fact, this has happened since 2001, when the costs of the electric system started to increase and the Government decided to freeze the regulated tariffs while acknowledging the debt with the utilities. However, rather than an isolated case to protect consumers from a particular situation of high costs, this situation continued over the years (OCE, 2012). This accumulated deficit, known as Pricing Deficit, reached 26,000 million € in 2013 (UNESA, 2013). The traditional utilities organized in UNESA took their opportunity and launched a campaign accusing the RES power plants (mainly those based on solar PV) of being responsible for the aforementioned Pricing Deficit due to the system of subsidies. As a consequence, a set of Royal Decrees have been approved over the last few years with catastrophic consequences for the RES sector in the country. It is worth noting that this campaign has been carried out with Governments from different political parties: the social-democrat PSOE (2008-2011) and the conservative PP (Dec. 2011 onwards). From 2012, subsidies to new RES installations were suppressed and the RE was finally abolished in 2014. The subsequent legislation strongly limits the economic feasibility of new RES projects and includes moratoriums and retroactive reductions on the existing incentives (Ciarreta et al., 2014; Haas, 2016; Riutort Isern, 2015; Romero-Rubio and de Andrés Díaz, 2015).9 Figure 2A shows how the capacity installed for all RES technologies in the country since 2012 has stalled. Even though the policies to promote some of the RES technologies showed shortcomings (e.g. the system of incentives for solar PV was over-remunerated (Ciarreta et al., 2014)), it is not correct to allocate the Pricing Deficit solely to RES power plants. First, the mismatch started in 2001, when the RES share was still negligible. Second, the economic incentives to the SR also 9 It should be noticed, nonetheless, that some renewable energy plants have been installed since 2012, being profitable in spite of the new barriers and the lack of bonuses. Additionally, there is the possibility for the in-situ production of renewable energy with independence from the electric market, i.e., RES selfconsumption. However, this option has also been politically blocked, a specific regulation for selfconsumption having not been set up until recently (Royal Decree 900/2015) and de facto preventing its development due to high restrictions included. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 20 included substantial subsidies to non-renewable energy resources, such as the energy recovery from waste (around ~50% coming from biomass) and cogeneration (mainly natural gas) (REE, 2016a). Third, the subsidies to the SR represent just a share of the total cost of the electricity system (~35% in 2012). Fourth, other circumstantial factors, such as the increase in oil prices, also drove fossil fuel and material prices to high levels during the 2000s. In fact, data for 2012 show that only ~25% of the cost of the electricity system could be allocated to RES subsidies (CNE, 2013). Fifth, increasing the supply of electricity from the SR tends to lower the price of the market due to the merit-order effect (Azofra et al., 2014; Ciarreta et al., 2014; Gallego-Castillo and Victoria, 2015; Hildmann et al., 2013; Sáenz de Miera et al., 2008). Sixth, there are many costs in the system that are not transparent or fully justified, such as capacity costs, large benefits of already amortized power plants (windfall profits), the so-called “costs of the transition to competition”, etc. (ODG, 2015). Thus, the causes of this Pricing Deficit are manifold and until a public audit of all the operation costs of the electrical system is performed, it will not be possible to identify all the drivers and their relative importance (OCE, 2012). Meanwhile, the proposition of initiatives to publicly audit these operation costs have to date been prevented by the Spanish Parliament (Ortiz Castellví, 2013). In the light of these facts, it could be argued that the traditional utilities from UNESA profited from the lack of transparency of the market, as well as from their oligopolistic power and connections with the political ruling parties, to promote a shift in Government policies from support towards obstruction to RES in order to protect their interests and safeguard their investments in fossil fuel (notably GCC) and nuclear power plants (in parallel, UNESA utilities also forced the implementation of both up-rating and lifetime extensions for existing nuclear power plants (Schneider et al., 2012)). Hence, the Spanish electric system is characterized by a strong collusion between the big energy companies and Government interests, which corresponds to the close alliance between business and policy makers. This collusion is very well exemplified by the “revolving door” phenomenon, where multiple examples exist of chair exchanges between ex-Government members from different parties and electric companies’ administration positions Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 21 (Bel et al., 2015; Haas, 2016; Riutort Isern, 2015). Even though it infringes upon the citizens, it ensures the economic success of those companies, which, in the official discourse, can be identified as of “public interest”.10 The four different dimensions of regime resistance identified by Geels (Geels, 2014) (see section 2) are observed in the process presented above. Coinciding with the widespread installation of new RES capacity (Figure 2), an unofficial campaign against them was carried out by the Government and the “grey capital”, arguing that RES were responsible for the high energy prices and Pricing Deficit (discursive form of resistance). In fact, the liberalization process brought an increase in electricity costs that was not immediately perceived by the consumers, since the system incurred a debt; its payment was delayed several years and the regime took the opportunity to place the responsibility on RES. As a result, from 2012 onwards, a set of increasingly restrictive Royal Decrees have been passed against them (instrumental form of resistance). All this contrasted with the economic benefits from RES in Spain that, in some cases, could even overcome the expenses of the bonus for their promotion by the merit-order effect. The endangered interests of GCC, caused by their low operation over the last few years (Figure 2B), were saved by enforcing “capacity payments” which, however, were found by a report from the European Commission likely to distort competition by unduly favoring particular producers or technologies (EC, 2016) (material form of resistance). At the same time, institutions have supported shale gas projects by modifying tax schemes (material form of resistance), as well as relaxing environmental constraints (instrumental). Additionally, the fact that the economic powers in Spain have traditionally been highly concentrated has resulted in a soft public response (institutional form of resistance). 10 This matches the fact that the Spanish companies have a profit margin of 6.78, much higher than the European average, 2.62. Although it should be noted that since these utilities are multinational corporations, they also obtain profits from their operations in other countries. For example, in the case of Iberdrola in 2014, just 20% of the reported benefits came from its operations in Spain (Urkidi et al., 2015). Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 22 Spain had the fourth highest electricity price for household consumers in the EU-28, as of the end of 2014 (Eurostat, 2018); having increased by 70% since the liberalization process started in 1997. This fact implies rates of fuel poverty above 15% (Tirado Herrero et al., 2014), and an estimated population at risk of falling into poverty of 28% (Pye and Dobbins, 2015), in combination with the high rates of unemployment (20.8% in December 2015) (Eurostat, 2018), that results in a very complex and deep-rooted social problem. This context, together with the social mobilizations around 15M (2011) in the country (Cameron, 2014), has allowed social awareness of the importance of energy issues to increase and public recognition of the failures of the energy system in Spain (Haas, 2016). These have ultimately stimulated the active participation of society in promoting RES, thus creating the conditions for the development of modern RES cooperatives in the country. In fact, energy cooperatives have historically been promoted by citizens and communities in times of crisis (Vansintjan, 2015). 3.2. Spanish RES cooperatives niche Section 3.1 presented the socioeconomic context under which the Spanish RES cooperatives niche emerged and has to operate. This section describes the creation, organization and operation of the Spanish RES cooperatives. Two important periods can be identified in Spain’s recent history related to energy cooperatives: (1: first wave-cooperatives) the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, when people from peripheral regions collaborated to supply electricity to their businesses and homes, as it was not a priority for the State or private investors to connect these areas to the national grid; and (2: second wave-cooperatives) from 2010 onwards, when different organizations focusing mainly on the retailing of electricity from RES have been created. While the first wave cooperatives were born out of necessity, the creation of the second wave organizations has been motivated by environmental and social concerns following other European examples (Riutort Isern, 2015, sec. 3.3). Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 23 When Spain started its electrification process, the electricity supply system prioritized populated urban areas, not reaching many small, isolated rural areas throughout the state. Thousands of local organizations (mainly cooperatives and municipal utilities) emerged to fill this gap in a similar process to other countries (Vansintjan, 2015). As time went by, many of these local businesses were absorbed or merged to become part of the corporations from UNESA, while a minority persisted: around 300 organizations, most of them small, are currently estimated to remain in operation throughout the country (Benavente, 2016). Of these, just 21 are cooperatives, focusing mainly on local electricity distribution; a few generate their own electricity. After the electricity market liberalization, some of them also started to undertake the activity of electric power retailing, although without a particular focus on RES. However, some of them have recently shifted to 100% RES generation and retailing, such as Enercoop11 in the Community of Valencia, with around 14,000 members, which could be considered a type #3 RES cooperative (i.e., fully integrated RES cooperative, see Appendix A for a typology of organizational models of RES cooperatives, following the classification from Rijpens et al., (Rijpens et al., 2013)) (Riutort Isern, 2015). The Federation of Electric Cooperatives from the Community of Valencia (FCECV), founded in 1983, and currently coordinating 9 organizations grouping over 21,500 household members, is also going through a process to retail 100% RES (FCECV, 2016). Even though some experiences of small organizations aiming to promote RES in Spain can be found during the last decades of the 20th century, the emergence of the second wave of RES cooperatives coincided with the impact of the global financial crisis in the country, the increasing social awareness around energy issues and the modification of the regulation in 2010 that allowed cooperatives to retail electricity. The latter favored the beginning of the operation of RES cooperatives in the country, which required significantly lower initial investments than other RES-related activities, such as the construction of power plants. In this line, it is worth noting 11 Not to be confused with the French RES cooperative Enercoop (http://www.enercoop.fr/). Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 24 that, unlike other European countries, no cooperative focusing on RES generation was created in Spain during the period favorable to RES deployment before 2012 in the country (Riutort Isern, 2015; Romero-Rubio and de Andrés Díaz, 2015).12 The reasons for the late development of modern RES cooperatives in Spain in comparison to other European countries are diverse: (1) traditional high concentration of economic (private capital) power in the infrastructures and energy sector13 (e.g. UNESA, see Figure 3) (Aguilera Klink and Naredo Pérez, 2009; Riutort Isern, 2015; Tamames, 1967); (2) the absence of a culture of municipal electric companies in the country, distribution activities having historically been carried out by private capital (Riutort Isern, 2015); and (3) the fact that the promotion of RES between 2000 and 2010 was led by the “grey capital” in the absence of participatory projects (Haas, 2016). Although the oil shocks from the 1970s and the anti-nuclear movements were relevant in Spain, they did not lead to the emergence of RES cooperatives as in other European countries (Riutort Isern, 2015; Vansintjan, 2015). However, different types of entities that could be labelled as RES cooperatives do exist nowadays in Spain. Their review and analysis is complicated by the fact that, unlike other countries (e.g. The Netherlands, Germany or England, Wales and Northern Ireland (CEE, 2017; Kampman et al., 2016)) a common database with centralized, homogenous and updated data does not exist. Some organizations present some of the requirements for being labelled as RES cooperatives (e.g. organizations such as the Fundación Terra or Ecooo have promoted the participation of citizens in the construction of RES power plants since the 2000s). Moreover, new organizations are emerging in different parts of the country which are difficult to evaluate due to the lack of public information. The aim of this section is thus not to develop a detailed review of all the RES cooperatives which can currently be found in Spain, but to refer to some of them so as to be able 12 A detailed description of the evolution of electricity cooperatives in Spain during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries can be found in (Riutort Isern, 2015, sec. 3.3)). 13 (Riutort Isern, 2015) reports that already in 1930, 50% of the capacity was owned by 5 companies, and 70% by ten. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 25 to identify the role of the RES cooperatives niche and potential towards the energy transition in Spain. In this sense, those organizations that belong to the European Federation of Renewable Energy Cooperatives (REScoop.eu) are taken as reference for this analysis, see Table 2. Two different phases can be identified in this second wave so far (August 2018): the first phase encompasses the 2010-2012 period, when three cooperatives emerged after rather independent processes in different locations: Som Energia (2010, Girona, Catalonia), Zencer (2011, Málaga, Andalusia) and GoiEner (2012, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country). Som Energia, the first RES cooperative in the country, was created in 2010 by staff and students of the University of Girona, in collaboration with a recently created association, with the aim of promoting sustainable development projects involving citizen participation in the city (Riutort Isern, 2015, p. 132). The awareness that many RES cooperatives were already successfully operating in other European countries played a key role in its inception, given the uncertainties and complexities of being the first organization of this type in the country (Riutort Isern, 2015, pp. 114–115). The creation of Som Energia, Goiener and Zencer implied the emergence of the RES cooperative model in Spain (Riutort Isern, 2015, p. 115). Since 2012, following these models, and in cooperation with them to start their operation, other cooperatives have gradually been created in Spain (e.g. Nosa Enerxía in Galicia (2014) and EnergÉtica in Castile-and-Leon (2015)). These organizations generally follow the RES cooperative #2 model, i.e., regional-national RES cooperatives that operate through a combination of volunteer and professional work covering mainly electricity retailing activities (Table 2) (see Appendix A). Barrizar (2013, Bizkaia, Basque Country), represents an exception to the RES cooperatives #2 model, being a smaller cooperative focused on the generation, distribution and retailing of heat (through district heating) and electricity at local level. Table 2 reviews the membership, number of contracts and main activities carried out by these organizations as derived from their websites and personal communications. Som Energia stands out, with almost 50,000 members and over 80,000 electricity contracts, followed by Goiener with around 9,000 members and over 11,000 contracts. As of the latest available data, the aggregate Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 32 term financial viability (Nosa Enerxía with Goiener and EnergÉtica with Som Energia) or jointly running power plants (Valteína hydropower plant by Energética and Som Energia). Goiener has also supported the creation of new RES cooperatives by providing legal support and subcontracting their software for the management of the retailing of electric energy. As an example, a permanent collaboration framework of 17 cooperatives (8 cooperatives from the first wave and 9 from the second wave17) was formally set up in May 2016, the Unión de Cooperativas de Consumidores y Usuarios de Energías Renovables (UNCCUER, 2016). However, it is too early to assess the potential of this joint initiative, given the existing diversity of business and social approaches amongst the constituent cooperatives. RES cooperatives have been pioneers in the deployment of RES in Spain, achieving key milestones such as the installation of the first modern wind turbine in 1984 (Ecotècnia) and the first solar PV power plant operating without subsidies (2016, Som Energia, GenerationkWh). From the demand-side, these organizations successfully contribute to the uptake of RES with community-based social marketing initiatives such as educational communication and social diffusion (Viardot, 2013). Spanish RES cooperatives have also demonstrated the capacity for spreading new ideas at both social and political levels, largely due to the political change that has taken place in Spain as result of the 15M movement. As an example, some cooperatives are collaborating with local governments to analyze the viability of the creation of municipal energy utilities (e.g. Pamplona, Vitoria). Moreover, RES cooperatives have promoted actions with local administrations to address fuel poverty. Finally, Spain, due to its southern location, enjoys high levels of solar irradiance in comparison with most of the EU countries where RES cooperatives have a higher presence. This not only 17 Cooperatives from the first wave (from the FCECV): Grup Cooperativa Elèctrica d'Alginet, Electrodistribuidora de F.A. El Serrallo, Electrica de Chera, Electrica de Sot de Chera, Electrica de Meliana, Electrica de Vinalesa, Cooperativa Eléctrica de Castellar, S.C.V. and Electrica de Guadassuar. Cooperatives from the second wave: AEIOluz, Econactiva, EnergÉtica, Goiener, Megara, Nosa Enerxia, Solabria, Zencer and La Corriente. Som Energia is in the process of joining. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 33 eases the economic viability of the projects thanks to a lower levelized cost of electricity, but also allows for a significant potential contribution of solar resource to a 100% RES mix supply (Capellán-Pérez et al., 2017). 4.1.2. Barriers Regime resistance from both the national and supra-national levels represents one of the main barriers that Spanish RES cooperatives have to deal with to prosper. Up to now, even though they have managed to adapt and progress, the regulation complicates the entrance and operation in the market of new RES cooperatives. This prevents the niche from growing, as well as delaying the professionalization of the cooperatives; a high and continued dependence on voluntary work risks hindering the long-term viability of the organization. The regulation also strongly limits the installation of new RES power capacity (including restrictions to self-consumption, which obstruct the decentralization of generation), which has meant that only a very small fraction of the retailed electricity is produced so far by the RES cooperatives themselves. Moreover, most of it is backed by RECs that, to date, lack demand and are currently transferred at a nearly negligible cost. An eventual higher demand for RECs in the future and a proper REC traceability system could compromise the capacity of RES cooperatives to back the full amount of their retailed electricity. The Spanish regime is also shaped by the efforts of the European Commission to bring about regulatory harmonization, which has recently managed to enforce an instrumental shift from feed-in-tariffs/premiums to competitive auctions. Auction systems risk discriminating small operators and citizen initiatives and may thereby negatively impact the whole process of decentralization (Beermann and Tews, 2015; Fell, 2017). Ultimately, the successful operation of energy cooperatives requires an appropriate legislative framework, policy environment and enabling conditions, including support measures (ILO, 2013). Modern Spanish RES cooperatives have experienced a quasi-exponential growth in both membership and electricity retailing since their creation. Although this is usually interpreted as a sign of success, it presents some drawbacks to their potential contribution towards a democratic, sustainable and decentralized energy transition in the country. RES cooperatives emerged from a Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 34 reduced group of people with active participation in meetings and face-to-face relationships. However, membership growth and territorial spread of RES cooperatives make the active participation of members more difficult and a greater level of professionalization and new tools are necessary to manage the participation that can no longer continue as conceived at the very beginning (Kunze and Becker, 2014). In addition, growth can induce risks of instrumentalization and denaturation as a result of the interaction with agents of the regime that could, eventually, cause a change in the operation following the logic of the regime. This risk is derived from the fact of being an organization in-and-against the market (Huybrechts, 2013), while surviving in the market might paradoxically imply identifying themselves with the growth and competition paradigm that, at least initially, is alien to them. For instance, Som Energia had to omit for the first time the sustainability criterion of not installing PV on land in order to accomplish the first plant of the “Generation kWh” project. The promotion of RES generation through traditional financial methods represent another risk. For example, Fleiß et al., (2017) analyzed two photovoltaic citizen participation initiatives in Austria, finding that the financial beliefs were the main driver behind joining such an initiative. This focus on financial gain clearly poses a risk in any attempted transition towards RES production, as it indicates that adopters may withdraw from participation as soon as a more attractive investment opportunity becomes available. A critical barrier for the full energy transition to 100% RES lies in the fact that Spanish RES cooperatives mainly focus on retailing electricity, which ultimately represents just a limited fraction (20-25%) of the final energy of Spain (IEA, 2016). Moreover, the profit margin of retailing electricity in Spain is generally rather low (≈5%), since most of the electricity bill is directed to covering regulated costs and taxes. Thus, it could be argued that, currently, most of the revenues of the cooperatives are in fact redirected to the regime structures (UNESA and the State) (ODG, 2015). Despite their relatively fast growth, RES cooperatives still have a minor presence in the Spanish energy system. Together with legal, economic and technical barriers, cognitive barriers such as low knowledge and understanding of the cooperative model amongst politicians, bankers, Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 35 potential partners and the general public are also a key obstacle faced by Spanish RES cooperatives, as happens at European level (Huybrechts and Mertens, 2014). 4.1.3. Opportunities Spanish RES cooperatives have the potential to become a key agent in the transition process to a democratic, distributed and sustainable energy system in the country. This model presents clear advantages to tackle the global environmental crisis in relation to the technocratic approach based on centralized ownership and electricity generation, given that the sustainability crisis is both a technic and social challenge (Belda Miquel and Pellicer Sifres, 2016). This potential critically depends on their capability to spread the model across the country, both by increasing membership and economic activities of the existing cooperatives, and through the creation of new ones. Growth in membership provides benefits from being a stronger and more solid agent in the electric market, as well as increasing their capability to finance new RES projects, but this could drift into participation and representation problems. Hence, participation methods and tools should be regularly updated. These can be based on new technologies that increase access to information and allow the information to be channeled from the bases to the decision-making process. The active involvement of the members in other fields of the social economy eases the predisposition towards participation. Potential problems related to the growth dynamic of RES cooperatives could be counterbalanced by the internal reorganization of RES cooperatives to structure the decision-making in different spheres: technical, local, etc. Growth in membership allows an increase in the capability of the cooperatives to finance new RES projects. Although the RES cooperatives currently assure the renewable origin of the electricity retailed through the RECs, the promotion of own generation would allow the members of the cooperative to directly contribute to the transition to a democratic, distributed and sustainable energy system. Moreover, this would allow the share of the revenues redirected to the regime structures to be reduced. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 36 Another way to expand the transformative potential of Spanish RES cooperatives would be to intensify the collaboration among them (e.g. developing the UNCCUER) and with other groups, associations, institutions and enterprises also involved in the democratic, distributed and sustainable bottom-up transition to RES (Belda Miquel and Pellicer Sifres, 2016; Bermejo, 2013). For example, collaboration with ethical banking may complement the funding of new generation projects given the high investments required; this collaboration may also ease the creation of new RES cooperatives, avoiding the current strong dependence on voluntary work in the early years. Collaboration with trade unions might also be a fertile area in the future, given that RES technologies are generally found to have higher employment-ratios than fossil and nuclear fuels (e.g. (Cartelle Barros et al., 2017)). By socializing the energy issue and bringing it closer to the public, RES cooperatives have the potential to promote public debate about the transition to RES. In fact, this transition faces many challenges to achieve a democratic, equitable, distributed and sustainable energy system that could then be democratically discussed and managed, as opposed to the current dominant technocratic approach. From this debate, specific actions can be promoted to limit the negative implications of a mere technological shift to RES. This public debate could also be complemented by new knowledge based on independent research, since most of the related private research in the country is currently being directed by the “grey capital”. Hence, Spanish RES cooperatives could play a significant role in promoting alternative analyses and discussions around the RES transition at national level (in a similar way to the federation REScoop.eu, which participates in many research projects at European level (REScoop, 2016)). Most RES cooperatives in Spain currently deal exclusively with the retailing (and to a lesser extent also with the generation) of renewable electricity. Their activities could be expanded by focusing on energy efficiency improvements or promoting the electrification of some energy uses, such as electric mobility (e.g. Som Mobilitat and Ecotxe). Another alternative would be to expand the business to other types of final energy, less restricted by legal and technical external constraints, i.e., heating or cooling, which could help to increase the renewable energy use rate Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 37 (Engelken et al., 2016). For instance, the high radiation levels in Spain make solar thermal collectors a very interesting technology for meeting heating and domestic hot water or even cooling by means of absorption refrigeration equipment. In any case, the promotion of new RES projects should follow the regional distribution of members as well as their energy demand. The distribution of electric energy may be another potential opportunity which would allow their presence in the electric system to increase; however, the current regulation does not facilitate this. The main challenge is to confront the regime resistance to the transition to RES. In this aspect, the current strategy based on alliances between RES cooperatives and other agents has brought good results and should be strengthened (Belda Miquel and Pellicer Sifres, 2016). Since the regime cannot be destabilized from a single front and a close relationship with regime actors could promote denaturalization, new transversal niches promoting the transition to RES will have to emerge in order to change the regime. However, it is also likely that, in the next few decades, the landscape will put significant pressure on the regime globally as anthropogenic global environmental change continues to undermine the natural systems and processes that support human societies. If no vigorous and fast corrective actions are taken, the disruptive potential of future global environmental change may escalate to levels threatening human societies as we know them today through an increasing risk of reaching climate tipping points, massive migrations, hazardous inequality levels, etc. (Ahmed, 2017; Hansen and Sato, 2016; Lenton et al., 2008; Motesharrei et al., 2014; Steffen et al., 2015a, 2015b). Very different transition pathways may emerge in this context, e.g. overshoot and collapse, regional competition, sustainable degrowth, etc. (Demaria et al., 2013; Meadows et al., 2004; Raskin et al., 2010). Hence, further work may be directed to analyzing the interaction between RES cooperatives with the energy policy dynamics of the regime, distinguishing different transition pathways (Geels et al., 2016; Geels and Schot, 2007; Johanisova and Wolf, 2012). In particular, the role and strategies of bottom-up initiatives, such as RES cooperatives, should be studied in the context of top-down targets, such as the required energy decarbonization rates to avoid dangerous climate change and the design of a 100% RES energy mix to cope with the intermittency of RES. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 38 4.2. Lessons from the experience of Spanish RES cooperatives The globally-interconnected challenges of the sustainability crisis (e.g. climate change) and fossil fuel depletion require active policies towards a fast RES transition in all countries of the globe in the coming decades. Given the current dominance of fossil fuels in the energy mix of most countries, regime resistance to this transition to RES will be frequent. If this transition is to be based on democratic, sustainable and decentralized production, RES cooperatives will have an essential role. However, with the exception of some Western and Northern European countries, this model is in a minority or does not exist at all (Kunze and Becker, 2014; REN21, 2016). In this context, the Spanish case is of special interest, given that, in the recent years, the RES cooperatives movement has arisen in a particularly hostile context. However, ultimately, each country represents a particular case with a specific regulatory, cultural and social context: regulations, support systems and available financing; continued government support of existing energy players (including fossil fuels); local skills, knowledge, confidence and engagement of local populations, etc. In this sense, some of the particular strategies applied by Spanish RES cooperatives might eventually be applicable in other countries (ILO, 2013). Other EU-28 members where the RES cooperatives are not firmly established, such as other southern European countries, or almost absent, as is the case for central and eastern European countries (Kunze and Becker, 2014), may be able to profit more from the Spanish experience, given the common European regulatory framework. For example, Som Energia has been actively supporting the RES cooperatives Coopérnico of Portugal and Sifnos of Greece, as well as a collaboration of various cooperatives in the Netherlands.18 The case of Central and Eastern European countries is more complex, given that the concept of “cooperative” has been denigrated in those countries after the fall of the socialist systems in the early 1990s (Johanisova et al., 2014). 18 “Also dozens of initiatives from around the world which simply came to us with a few questions have been helped”. Personal communication from Gijsbert Huijink, Som Energia (10-12-2017). Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 39 Research projects constitute another means of collaboration between RES cooperatives, e.g. REScoop.eu participates in several European research projects (REScoop, 2016). In this section, we highlight a list of topics, from those discussed in section 4.1, where the case of Spanish RES cooperatives brings interesting lessons that can help build strategies to boost the expansion of this model elsewhere: • Requirement of a strong social support base: The Spanish case shows that one of the main preconditions for the successful deployment of RES cooperatives lies in the existence of an informed and confident social base with strong and continued motivation to selflessly support the project over time, thus having the potential to overturn the hostile regulatory context. • Liberalized energy markets: liberalized energy markets enable other agents, besides traditional energy utilities, to participate in the energy business, opening the door to such alternative social enterprises as not-for-profit cooperatives. Even though these markets are usually shaped for large and strong companies, RES cooperatives can also find their place under certain conditions. • Innovative socio-technical solutions: RES cooperatives are social enterprises that share social motivations going beyond the market logic. Hence, these organizations can act as laboratories for innovative solutions. Innovation and resilience is vital to surviving in a hostile context. • Development and expansion of organizations: RES cooperatives emerge from local initiatives and, depending on the objectives of each organization and the evolution of the regime and landscape, they can decide whether or not to grow in membership. Growth increases financial capacity which could be required to operate in the retailing market, build new RES infrastructure or hire staff. The latter point is critical, since the fulldependence on voluntary work compromises the long-term feasibility of the project. On the other hand, growth can affect the democratic basis of RES cooperatives, since it tends Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 40 to complicate communication. Moreover, opening RES cooperatives to less motivated members requires a great effort to educate and communicate the philosophy and ideals upon which the cooperative is based on, otherwise the operation can be polluted by the logics of the regime they aim to challenge. Hence, active management of the growth of these organizations is crucial for them to prosper. • Cooperation: Cooperation is essential for spreading the model proposed by RES cooperatives allowing a broader public to be reached, while also establishing alliances and creating a protected zone outside the regime. In this sense, two levels of cooperation should be distinguished, i.e, inwards (within cooperatives) and outwards. Inward cooperation allows changes in the regime to be promoted by bringing up a common agenda. Outward cooperation settles a flexible and ample collaboration network, where the ideas proposed by different organizations can flow in several directions. Large-scale socio-political movements provide great opportunities for setting up RES cooperatives and spreading the model. • Diversification (energy & beyond): Many RES cooperatives rely on existing energy infrastructure to start their activity, since it requires a lower initial investment. However, a potential exists for extending their operation to other services and activities. These can be within the electricity sector, including distribution activities or promoting electric mobility, or they can be through entry to other energy markets, such as heating and cooling production and distribution. This potential will depend on the existing infrastructure, the biophysical characteristics and the characteristics of the energy demand in specific locations. 5. Conclusions and policy implications In Spain, the modern RES cooperative movement is at an early stage of development and has recently arisen as a reaction to a combination of factors: (1) the increasing awareness of the deficient liberalization of the electricity market still dominated by a reduced number of private Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 41 companies, (2) the economic crisis from the year 2008, which has contributed to increasing the levels of fuel poverty, (3) the legal possibility of cooperatives to retail electricity only from 2010, (4) the increasing politicization of the energy issue from the 15M movement (2011), and (5) the shift of the Spanish Government’s policies against renewables from 2012 onwards. Spanish RES cooperatives have arisen in a volatile, hostile, economic and regulatory context which has induced specific organizational and operating structures. From the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP), renewable energy sources (RES) cooperatives have taken advantage of the pressure from the landscape (climate change, depletion of fossil fuels, economic crisis, regime shift in the country from RES promotion to resistance from 2012 onwards) to strengthen their niche: building networks, growing and maturing; showing a remarkable capacity to adapt to different scales and eventualities and to become a legitimated actor (Belda Miquel and Pellicer Sifres, 2016). Despite the increase in RES electricity capacity in 1997-2012 in Spain, the power from traditional utilities and the “grey capital”, which substantially increased fossil fuel capacity during the favorable period for RES, was not challenged. As a result, when the electric demand decreased due to the crisis and the conflict of interest arose, a systematic protection of the traditional utilities was carried out by the regime against RES. The current regime resistance is identified as the main barrier that RES cooperatives have to deal with in order to prosper. Up to now, even though they have managed to adapt, the change in the RES regulation framework has strongly limited the installation of new RES power capacity. While this resistance prevails, the Spanish RES cooperatives niche has to learn to create new spaces where they can become stronger and, at the same time, facilitate the socio-political scenario that will make it possible to change the regime from within. In order to counteract the regime, it is also fundamental to overcome current cognitive barriers to project a public image that transmits the social, economic and environmental benefits of RES cooperatives for society. Other barriers include fast membership growth which challenges participation, and the risks faced by these hybrid models, combining alternative ways of doing things with integration in the extant economic landscape, which inevitably brings paradoxes. Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 48 Energy from waste has been included in “Rest of RES”. However, it must be highlighted that according to REE, energy from waste is considered to be a 50% renewable source. In any case, currently installed energy-from-waste power capacity in Spain is still negligible compared to total power capacity (there are 11 plants operating in Spain), and none of them are owned by UNESAutilities. Table B1: Estimation of installed power capacity (MW) in Spain by technology and UNESA-utility for the year 2015. Rest of RES includes: solar PV, solar CSP, thermal renewable, biomass & waste and mini-hydraulic. (Sources: data collated from (AEE, 2016; IRENA db, 2018; OCE, 2016; REE, 2016b; UNESA, 2015), and the webpages of UNESA-utilities (EDP Energía, 2016; ENDESA, 2016; Gas Natural-Fenosa, 2016; Iberdrola, 2016; Viesgo, 2016). Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 49 Ordinary Regime Special Regime TOTAL RES LARGE HYDRO NUCLEAR COAL COMB. CYCLES OTHERS (Fuelgas) CHP WIND Rest of RES TOTAL RES UNESA UTILITIES IBERDROLA 9,715 3,402 874 5,696 0 364 5,577 527 6,104 26,155 ENDESA 4,765 3,681 5,885 2,949 0 0 1,492 88 1,580 18,859 FENOSA 1,954 603 2,074 7,422 0 58 1,213 110 1,323 13,433 EDP 426 165 1,520 2,012 0 25 2,256 0 2,256 6,404 VIESGO 704 0 589 1,720 0 0 381 25 406 3,419 TOTAL UNESA 17,564 7,851 10,942 19,799 4,603 447 10,919 750 11,669 72,874 TOTAL IN SPAIN 20,353 7,851 11,262 25,287 4,603 6,728 23,003 8,493 31,496 107,580 % UNESA 86.3% 100.0% 97.2% 78.3% 100.0% 6.6% 47.5% 8.8% 37.0% 67.7% Capellán-Pérez, Iñigo; Álvaro Campos-Celador; and Jon Terés-Zubiaga. “Renewable Energy Cooperatives as an Instrument towards the Energy Transition in Spain.” Energy Policy 123 (December 1, 2018): 215–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.064. 50 References AEE, 2016. Eólica 2016. Asociación Empresarial Eólica (Spain). Agterbosch, S., Vermeulen, W., Glasbergen, P., 2004. 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