Energy democracy and participation in energy transitions

Abstract

The democratization of energy systems by citizen participation has been an important characteristic of the discourse on energy transformation processes. On the one hand, the material features of renewable energy technologies allow for new actors in energy supply. On the other hand, unconventional political participation is discussed as a mean for enhancing the legitimacy and effectiveness of energy transformation processes. But energy transformation processes also seem to be decelerated by democratic procedure. By utilizing both energy democracy and participatory governance as analytical lens, it will be argued that the evolvement of new forms of citizen participation cannot only be traced back to the material features of renewable energy technologies but are also dependent on political decisions and policies. Furthermore, legitimacy as well as effectiveness of democratic decision-making can be decreased by citizen participation if agency and mandate of the latter are not explained transparently.