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Ms. Esther Van der Waal
Science and Society Group, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen

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0 Social Impact Assessment
0 community energy
0 value sensitive design
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Dissertation
Published: 08 April 2021
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ACS Style

Esther van der Waal. Local energy innovators: Collective experimentation for energy transition. 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Esther van der Waal. Local energy innovators: Collective experimentation for energy transition. . 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Esther van der Waal. 2021. "Local energy innovators: Collective experimentation for energy transition." , no. : 1.

Editorial
Published: 07 January 2021 in Energies
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Worldwide, the energy landscape is changing

ACS Style

Binod Prasad Koirala; Ellen C. J. Van Oost; Esther C. Van Der Waal; Henny J. Van Der Windt. New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage. Energies 2021, 14, 286 .

AMA Style

Binod Prasad Koirala, Ellen C. J. Van Oost, Esther C. Van Der Waal, Henny J. Van Der Windt. New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage. Energies. 2021; 14 (2):286.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Binod Prasad Koirala; Ellen C. J. Van Oost; Esther C. Van Der Waal; Henny J. Van Der Windt. 2021. "New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage." Energies 14, no. 2: 286.

Journal article
Published: 22 October 2020 in Sustainability
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We pose that instead of problematizing negative attitudes of local stakeholders, such as citizens and NGOs, wind energy implementers should be more focused on scrutinizing the acceptability of their projects. The emphasis in this study is on the potential for representation of local stakeholders’ values in the project design, including amongst others business model and placement. Informed by value sensitive design literature, we analyzed two contrasting, locally-owned wind projects in the Dutch province of Groningen: the implementation of mini-turbines in a national landscape and a large-scale multi MW wind project in an industrialized area close to a World Heritage nature reserve. The study analyses how the respective farmer-developers and other local stakeholders attempted to resolve or ameliorate inter- and intra-value conflicts regarding livability, economy, landscape, and nature. The value conflicts turned out to be fruitful to identifying key issues and creating more widely shared value conceptualizations and design priorities. Hence, from this study it can be concluded that value conflict can be productive if carefully unpacked and managed. Uneven power distribution among stakeholders in the planning process, overcoming incommensurability of perspectives, and creating intersubjectivity remain challenges.

ACS Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal; Henny J. Van Der Windt; Rixt Botma; Ellen C. J. Van Oost. Being a Better Neighbor: A Value-Based Perspective on Negotiating Acceptability of Locally-Owned Wind Projects. Sustainability 2020, 12, 8767 .

AMA Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal, Henny J. Van Der Windt, Rixt Botma, Ellen C. J. Van Oost. Being a Better Neighbor: A Value-Based Perspective on Negotiating Acceptability of Locally-Owned Wind Projects. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (21):8767.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal; Henny J. Van Der Windt; Rixt Botma; Ellen C. J. Van Oost. 2020. "Being a Better Neighbor: A Value-Based Perspective on Negotiating Acceptability of Locally-Owned Wind Projects." Sustainability 12, no. 21: 8767.

Journal article
Published: 17 January 2020 in Energies
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To facilitate energy transition, regulators have devised ‘regulatory sandboxes’ to create a participatory experimentation environment for exploring revision of energy law in several countries. These sandboxes allow for a two-way regulatory dialogue between an experimenter and an approachable regulator to innovate regulation and enable new socio-technical arrangements. However, these experiments do not take place in a vacuum but need to be formulated and implemented in a multi-actor, polycentric decision-making system through collaboration with the regulator but also energy sector incumbents, such as the distribution system operator. Therefore, we are exploring new roles and power division changes in the energy sector as a result of such a regulatory sandbox. We researched the Dutch executive order ‘experiments decentralized, sustainable electricity production’ (EDSEP) that invites homeowners’ associations and energy cooperatives to propose projects that are prohibited by extant regulation. Local experimenters can, for instance, organise peer-to-peer supply and determine their own tariffs for energy transport in order to localize, democratize, and decentralize energy provision. Theoretically, we rely on Ostrom’s concept of polycentricity to study the dynamics between actors that are involved in and engaging with the participatory experiments. Empirically, we examine four approved EDSEP experiments through interviews and document analysis. Our conclusions focus on the potential and limitations of bottom-up, participatory innovation in a polycentric system. The most important lessons are that a more holistic approach to experimentation, inter-actor alignment, providing more incentives, and expert and financial support would benefit bottom-up participatory innovation.

ACS Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal; Alexandra M. Das; Tineke Van Der Schoor. Participatory Experimentation with Energy Law: Digging in a ‘Regulatory Sandbox’ for Local Energy Initiatives in the Netherlands. Energies 2020, 13, 458 .

AMA Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal, Alexandra M. Das, Tineke Van Der Schoor. Participatory Experimentation with Energy Law: Digging in a ‘Regulatory Sandbox’ for Local Energy Initiatives in the Netherlands. Energies. 2020; 13 (2):458.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal; Alexandra M. Das; Tineke Van Der Schoor. 2020. "Participatory Experimentation with Energy Law: Digging in a ‘Regulatory Sandbox’ for Local Energy Initiatives in the Netherlands." Energies 13, no. 2: 458.

Journal article
Published: 20 December 2019 in Energy Policy
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Local benefits of community renewable energy (CRE) –ranging from an increase in social cohesion, jobs, services, knowledge and skills - are widely assumed in academia and among policy makers. However, there are both a lack of evidence on these impacts and a lack of formal impact assessment methodologies to assess them. This research explores change mapping, an impact assessment methodology, to contribute to evaluative frameworks for assessment of the effects of CRE projects on their host communities. With this methodology, the local impacts of a 900 kW community wind project on the Scottish island Shapinsay are assessed, using an exploratory survey, interviews, and two focus group sessions. When it comes to the local impacts, the biggest changes residents experience are either direct or indirect effects of the RE revenues. Modest but ostensible effects are visible on local economic development, social cohesion, and knowledge and skill development. From the case study can be concluded that community-ownership of energy technologies can indeed be empowering, but also creates vulnerability. Stable energy policies and support during the operational phase are needed to keep up the stream of RE income that functions as a source of independent income.

ACS Style

Esther C. van der Waal. Local impact of community renewable energy: A case study of an Orcadian community-led wind scheme. Energy Policy 2019, 138, 111193 .

AMA Style

Esther C. van der Waal. Local impact of community renewable energy: A case study of an Orcadian community-led wind scheme. Energy Policy. 2019; 138 ():111193.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Esther C. van der Waal. 2019. "Local impact of community renewable energy: A case study of an Orcadian community-led wind scheme." Energy Policy 138, no. : 111193.

Journal article
Published: 04 December 2018 in Sustainability
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Local energy initiatives are of growing interest to studies of grassroots innovation for sustainability. Some of these initiatives have developed novel technological solutions to fulfil local demand for renewable energy. However, whereas the upscaling and diffusion of grassroots innovations has been extensively discussed in the literature, their emergence has received very little attention so far. We will therefore focus on how energy initiatives can develop technological innovations by bringing together local actors and creating a fit to local circumstances. Grounded in actor network theory (ANT) and structured by concepts from Callon’s sociology of translation, we studied two technologically innovative projects of a Dutch energy initiative. Through document analysis and interviews, we researched how these initiatives developed their innovations by forming networks of social, material, and discursive elements. We found that the outcomes of the innovation processes are very dependent on the networking capacities of the energy initiatives, as well as how well they fit with external circumstances and opportunities. The paper concludes with five lessons for grassroots technological innovation: form links with the local, extensively scrutinize plans, create tangible proof of alignments, position the project as beneficial to as many actors as possible, and adjust the level of ambition to the strength of the actor network.

ACS Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal; Henny J. Van Der Windt; Ellen C. J. Van Oost. How Local Energy Initiatives Develop Technological Innovations: Growing an Actor Network. Sustainability 2018, 10, 4577 .

AMA Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal, Henny J. Van Der Windt, Ellen C. J. Van Oost. How Local Energy Initiatives Develop Technological Innovations: Growing an Actor Network. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (12):4577.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Esther C. Van Der Waal; Henny J. Van Der Windt; Ellen C. J. Van Oost. 2018. "How Local Energy Initiatives Develop Technological Innovations: Growing an Actor Network." Sustainability 10, no. 12: 4577.