The emergence of renewable energy cooperatives in

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of this paper is to explore and review the main characteristics of RE co- ops in Spain, in ... Cooperatives represent a legal business form that exists all over the world ..... variables to be considered in the study, which where the following: area.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 94 (2018) 1036–1043

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

The emergence of renewable energy cooperatives in Spain: A review a,⁎

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a

Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria , Lucía Sáez , Erlantz Allur , Jon Morandeira a b

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Department of Management, University of the Basque Country UPV-EHU, Spain Department of Financial Economics, University of the Basque Country UPV-EHU, Spain

A R T I C LE I N FO

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Cooperatives Cooperative organizations Renewable energy Spain

Cooperative organizations that aim to foster the production and the consumption of renewable energy are flourishing all over the world. Nevertheless, the scholarly research about these organizations that promote renewable energy has been scattered and limited, especially in the case of countries that do not have a tradition of disseminating green energy (e.g. countries from Southern Europe). Taking into account this gap in the literature, this article sheds light on the phenomenon of renewable energy cooperatives in Spain. Based on primary and secondary data sources the main characteristics, motivations and performance of these organizations that promote community initiatives for renewable energy are reviewed. The implications for stakeholders, policy makers and researchers, as well as avenues for further research, are discussed.

1. Introduction Community initiatives for renewable energy (RE) can be defined as decentralized, non-governmental initiatives of local communities and citizens to promote the production and consumption of RE [1] Community owned RE projects have long been advocated as a way to foster the dissemination of RE technologies [2]. Local community energy initiatives and projects can involve very different legal and financial models of ownership [3]. Cooperative organizations are perhaps among the most relevant [4] and have received increased attention from scholars and policymakers [5], as cooperatives that aim to foster the production and/or the consumption of RE are flourishing all over the world, especially in Canada, the US, UK, Denmark or Germany [6]. These cooperatively-owned organizations can constitute a substantially different model of energy provision and distribution [7]. As underlined by Walker et al. [8], this trend could be linked to a more general community approach to fostering support for RE technologies and investments. Interest in the scholarly research into cooperativelyowned RE initiatives offers a complementary model for RE deployment and such initiatives have several advantages over the prevailing “top down” strategy, as they can be proactive agents of change [9,10] in both the economic and political dimensions [11]. Scholarly research about cooperative organizations that foster RE

(hereinafter referred to as RE co-ops) has been the subject of a very limited number of academic studies. This gap is even more obvious in countries such as Spain where the RE sources are in an emergent stage, even though, in recent years, these sources have experienced intensive growth [12]. The few and scattered research works published in the literature have focused on the spread of RE co-ops in countries with a long tradition of adoption of RE, such as Germany [11,13] and the Netherlands [14]. Taking into account this gap in the literature, the aim of this paper is to explore and review the main characteristics of RE coops in Spain, in order to make a contribution to both the scholarly and practitioner literature. 2. Renewable energy cooperatives (RE co-ops) Cooperatives represent a legal business form that exists all over the world, notably in the fields of agricultural production, general consumption, finance and, to a lesser extent, industrial production. According to the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) [15] ‘a cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise’. Built on the idea of achieving goals with joint force, cooperatives empower single players to realize projects that they would not be able

Abbreviations: RE, renewable energy; RE co-ops, renewable energy cooperatives (RE co-ops); ICA, International Co-operative Alliance; ILO, International Labour Organization; S. Coop., Sociedad Cooperativa; REScoop, European Federation of Renewable Energy Cooperatives (REScoop); PV, photovoltaic; MW, megawatt; kW, kilowatt; kW h, kilowatt hour; GW h, gigawatt hours; kWhe, Variation of unit of electric energy generation cost; MVA, mega-volt ampere; UNCCUER, National Union of Renewable Energy Electricity Cooperatives ⁎ Correspondence to: Facultad de Economía y Empresa, University of the Basque Country UPV-EHU, Plaza Oñati 1, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (I. Heras-Saizarbitoria), [email protected] (L. Sáez), [email protected] (E. Allur), [email protected] (J. Morandeira). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.06.049 Received 13 March 2017; Received in revised form 20 April 2018; Accepted 20 June 2018 1364-0321/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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straightforward, each stage is a significant challenge for groups that are mainly composed of volunteers. Many potentially positive aspects of RE co-ops that act as motivational factors to launch this type of cooperative can be identified. RE coops encourage people to take a longer-term view by creating common expectations and provide a more sustainable basis, as they are embedded in local development [22]. RE Co-ops deliver ‘triple bottom line' returns, addressing environmental and social issues while also generating economic benefits for members and/or for members’ communities [23]. Energy cooperatives, in general, have also been found to be resilient to crisis, making them sustainable over the long term [24]. Moreover, community project ownership helps overcome public opposition facing RE development such as wind-farms, increasing uptake [25]. Indeed, the emergence of RE co-ops can be partly explained by the dissatisfaction of consumers and their desire to control the origin of their energy better [23,26] and to keep production in the hands of citizens [27]. The potential of RE co-ops to reduce the price of electricity is another factor mentioned in the literature [20,23,26]. Similarly, in their recent work Coenen et al. [28] summarized the main benefits or added value of RE co-ops as shown in Table 2. Despite the reported success of RE co-ops in generating positive impacts, the specialized literature also raises concerns and challenges in relation to their limitations, including various community-specific factors and financial and perceptual barriers to the emergence and development of RE co-ops [18]. Among these challenges are the financial and technical complexity and the need for people, especially skilled and knowledgeable people, to volunteer their time, [21,27]. In their recent study Mignon and Rüdinger [5] found that RE co-ops are specifically affected by a lack of financial infrastructure, a lack of knowledge infrastructure and a hard institutional context that hinders their deployment.

to realize by themselves [16]. As recently underlined by Beggio and Kusch [17], the common aspects shared by these very different types of RE co-ops are the principles of the ICA guidelines, which are the following [15]: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Voluntary and Open Membership Democratic Member Control Member Economic Participation Autonomy and Independence Education, Training and Information Co-operation among Co-operatives Concern for Community

These common principles applied to a heterogeneous day by day activity can be illustrated by looking at the European network REScoop.eu (see Section 4 for more details). Very different types of organization are associated, but they share a common perspective. Single RE co-ops are groups of citizens, in any legal form, which share a common long-term view of a sustainable future of energy and advance energy transition through involvement in active citizenship [17]. As pointed out by Tarhan [18], the energy sectors of most industrialized countries are marked by a long history of state and corporate-owned and highly centralized energy generation (mostly from fossil-based sources) and distribution and the increased uptake of renewable energy (RE) technologies since the early 1990s, has not changed the hegemony of those actors, who own the large-scale RE projects. Nevertheless, with the appearance of RE co-ops and other forms of community groups, new alternatives are emerging to provide bottom-up and collective solutions to the local needs of communities and global environmental issues [18]. As stated, there is no unified and common definition of RE co-ops. Various different typologies of RE co-ops can be found in the specialized literature, and these are summarized in Table 1. Although RE co-ops are very diverse and are shaped by a set of contingent factors in their environments, they operate along similar lines [21]: a core group establishes the feasibility of a project, often helped by grant funding and advice from other RE co-ops or not-forprofit agencies; the group formally establishes and publishes a share prospectus, explaining its business plan, intended return on investment and plans for community benefit; the scheme is marketed, often locally, and attracts owner-members of the co-operative; when the funds are raised, the scheme is constructed and the RE co-op is launched. As underlined by Willis and Willis [21], although this process seems

3. RE co-ops in the European Union: a story of a heterogeneous dissemination The dissemination of RE co-ops in Europe has been very heterogeneous, with some member states of the European Union having very few RE co-ops operating and other member states having an important amount of cooperatives operating and a growing amount of new cooperatives launched each year. As recently underlined by Bauwens et al. [11] various major influences or factors have been explored to explain such disparity, such as the formal institutional rules (i.e. public regulation), the support mechanisms for RE and spatial planning, attitudes toward the cooperative model and the cultures of local energy activism. The REScoop.eu network ― the Federation of Groups and Cooperatives of Citizens for Renewable Energy in Europe (see the next section) ― reports that as of early 2014, approximately 3000 RE co-ops were operating [29]. In Germany alone, 656 RE co-ops were established between 2005 and 2013, while in the UK just close to 30 were established between 2008 and 2012 [18]. Among the 3000 RE co-ops operating across Europe, almost 80 per cent are located in Germany and Denmark [11,29]. In those member states of the European Union with certain traditions ― that could be called the frontrunners in terms of RE co-op dissemination ― RE co-ops and other types of energy cooperatives have been an important building block of the energy transition [30]. Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands are three good examples of frontrunners regarding the prominence of RE co-ops. Nevertheless, as underlined by Yildiz et al. [13] their practical importance is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively reflected in the academic literature. In Germany the tradition of energy cooperatives dates back to the early 20th century when decentralized cooperatives based on fossil fuels were set up to assure electricity provision in remote areas [1]. Originally these cooperatives were owned by municipalities but they are now often owned by local cooperatives. Since 2009 they have

Table 1 Typologies of RE co-ops reviewed in the literature. Source: Own work based on Rijpens et al. [19]; Yildiz et al. [13]; Enercoop [20]. Typology Energy sources

Added Value

Business models

co-ops that foster the Biomass energy production • RE co-ops that foster the Wind-energy production • RE co-ops that foster the Solar energy production • RE co-ops that foster the Geothermal energy production • RE co-ops that foster Natural/Biogas energy production • RE co-ops that foster the Tidal energy production • RE RE co-ops that foster a mix of any of the previous REs • Hybrid co-ops focused on the consumption or purchasing of RE • RE co-ops focused on the production of RE • RE co-ops focused on the distribution of RE • RE co-ops focused on the trading of RE • RE RE co-ops which include any of the previous • Hybrid group of citizens’ RE co-ops • Local RE co-ops • Regional-national integrated RE co-ops • Fully of RE co-ops • Network co-ops with a Multi-stakeholder governance model • RE • RE co-ops as Non-energy-focused organizations

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Table 2 Added value of RE co-ops. Source: Own work based on Coenen et al. [28]. Factor

Added value

Scale of activities Capacity and critical mass

RE co-ops operate close to citizens and increase their efficiency and stimulate energy savings RE co-ops are in a good position to contribute to energy savings as they have a certain critical mass to acquire the necessary expertise and motivate and assist citizens who are less motivated RE co-ops are in an excellent position to share and link their activities with other local actors RE co-ops are in a good position to make their consumers more aware of energy use RE co-ops are in a good position to promote energy saving as a social norm (i.e. as a reference point for behavior) RE co-ops are in a good position to generate citizens’ trust so that they take measures themselves and invest in energy efficiency or RE technology appliances RE co-ops see the energy produced or distributed by them as a common good

Social network argument Awareness raising and education Set social norms Trust Commons argument

practitioner literature. This is especially the case in some member states of the European Union such as France, Italy and Spain. In the last case, taking into account the exceptional case of rise and fall of RE [12,36,37], the descriptive and exploratory analysis of the phenomenon of RE co-ops may be especially relevant and necessary.

experienced a huge growth, notably in the form of RE co-ops with their own production facilities, including photovoltaic systems on public roofs, biomass-based heating and manure fermenting. The most successful and prominent group of RE co-ops is formed of solar cooperatives ― rising from only 4 in 2007 to over 200 by 2010 ― in strong contrast to the Netherlands and Denmark where they are virtually absent [1]. In contrast, wind production RE co-ops form a smaller group, even though they have a longer tradition, from the early 1990s onwards. In short, RE co-ops have turned into important supporters of renewable and decentralized energy structures in Germany [31], due to their strong growth since 2006, their participation in local RE projects and their democratic awareness [16]. Denmark has a long tradition of creating a specific environment for community initiatives [1] that has also been successful in the field of RE. The co-operative enterprise model has been highly successful in Denmark in the dissemination of RE based on wind power, allowing people, local communities and regions to be the important driving force for the energy transition [32]. Families have had tax exemption for generating their own electricity in their own, or in an adjoining, municipality, and this induces them to buy shares in wind turbine cooperatives which in turn invest in community wind turbines [33]. While in 1996 there were around 2100 such cooperatives, by 2001 over 100,000 families belonged to wind turbine cooperatives (which installed 86% of all the wind turbines in the country) [33]. Danish wind power cooperatives owned 20.4% of total installed wind power capacity (6301 MW) in 2012 [34]. Agterbosch et al. [35] state that the Dutch wind power supply market is not homogeneous. Many wind cooperatives are cooperatives that are owned by individual members. Wind power exploitation is not a means of making money, but a device to work toward a sustainable society. Wind cooperatives have not been very important. The market share of wind cooperatives fluctuated between 0% and 4%, with an exceptional peak in the year 2000 when they reached 9% of total capacity installed. Wind cooperatives remain marginal in the wind power supply market. In the Netherlands RE co-ops have also played a relevant role. More than 500 initiatives were started by citizens and social groups over recent years to produce and consume RE, most of them related to the emergence of local RE co-ops [1]. For example, local wind energy cooperatives have been successful [14]. Cooperatives have been an important catalyst due to their promotion and lobbying activities and due to their perseverance in economically less attractive periods [7]. Nevertheless, in the Netherlands cooperatives have played a minor role in developing RE [35]. But, as stated, the situation of RE co-ops in the member states with a very weak tradition of fostering of this type of organization ― which could be called the laggards in terms of RE co-op dissemination ― is completely different. For example, the development of RE co-ops in Southern Europe has been much slower [23]. Indeed, this is an underresearched field in which the activity of cooperatives and other community actors is more developed than its analysis in the scholarly and

4. Methods This research uses an exploratory research design in order to analyze the situation and aims of the Spanish RE co-ops currently operating. A multiple cases approach was employed [38,39] and the field work was carried out between September 2016 and December 2016 based on the triangulation of three main sources of data. First, data from the REScoop.eu network ― the Federation of Groups and Cooperatives of Citizens for Renewable Energy in Europe ― and from other local and national records of Cooperative organizations, were obtained. REScoop.eu was founded as s network in 2011 and was legally established as a federation with European scope in 2013 under Belgian national law. It is exemplary in creating a supporting network and operating as an umbrella for individual RE co-ops, thus contributing to the success of existing initiatives and to more widespread implementation of such cooperatives throughout Europe [17] (Fig. 1). The methodology for collecting information on the cooperatives under study was based on content analysis, and its specific application

Fig. 1. Locations of the RE co-ops in Spain. Source: Own work. 1038

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crisis that has been experienced in the country and the civil movements that have occurred in response to this crisis. Also, there have been specific problems in the Spanish energy sector, such as the rise in the price of electricity and the elimination of grants to RE sources [43]. These factors have affected the rather erratic evolution of certain sources of RE generation in Spain (see Fig. 2). Table 4 summarizes some of the size and scope of the Spanish RE coops. Spanish RE co-ops are mainly consumer cooperatives, although some of them are actively aiming at establishing projects for the generation of RE. As shown in the Table 4, Spanish RE co-ops vary considerably in size, with very small and emergent organizations such as La Corriente and Barrizar, and bigger RE co-ops such as Som Energia and Goiener. The latter are based in Catalonia and the Basque Country Autonomous Region, respectively, two regions with a tradition of communitarian and cooperative movements [45]. These two RE co-ops have played a very important role in paving the way for the flourishing of other more recent and smaller RE co-ops, which have followed the example of their predecessors.

Table 3 RE co-ops in Spain. Source: Own work. Creation date

Cooperative

Region

2013

The Basque Country

2015 2012 2013 2010 2013 2015

Barrizar Cooperativa de Servicios Energéticos EnergÉtica, S Coop. GoiEner, S.Coop. Nosa Enerxía, S.Coop. Som Energia, SCCL Zencer, S. Coop. Megara Energía, S. Coop.

1925 2014 2015 2013 2016

Grupo Enercoop Seneo, S. Coop. Econactiva, S. Coop. Solabria, S. Coop. La Corriente, S. Coop.

Castile and León The Basque Country Galicia Catalonia Andalusia Castile and León (Soria) Alicante Valencia Castile and La Mancha Cantabria Madrid

to the analysis of web sites [40]. To that end, the target population was first designated and the sample selected. In this case, the study population comprises the official web sites of the Cooperatives of Citizens for RE in Spain which are shown in Table 3. We analyzed 12 Spanish RE coops representing 100% of the population under study. We then defined the unit of analysis, which was the RE co-ops’ official web sites, and the variables to be considered in the study, which where the following: area of action (scope), general aims / goals, mission, declared benefits of being a member, number of members, number of contracts, power delivery, provided services, membership of cooperative networks and another qualitative information. Finally, we conducted personal interviews using telephone, Skype and e-mail contacts with general and middle managers of Spanish RE co-ops in order to obtain direct and more nuanced information from them. As observed in previous studies (e.g. Holt [41]) the use of different ways to conduct interviews produces similar results to those carried out face-to-face. All in all, 21 representatives of RE co-ops were interviewed during the field-work. In order to have a more focused and nuanced view of the situation of the Spanish RE co-ops, a large amount of documentary material was gathered, both internal and external. Internal documents included reporting documents, presentation documents and charter principles defining the vision and specific features of each of the RE co-ops analyzed. External material included reports by external networks, press releases, and regulatory documents at national and European Union level.

5.2. The mission of the RE co-ops In order to analyze this aspect, the mission statements of the RE coops, published in different internal and external corporate documents, were analyzed. Mission statements are strategic in nature and generate a strong corporate ethos [46] aimed at communicating managers’ ideas of corporate identity to both internal and external stakeholders [47]. They are a ubiquitous signaling tool to articulate the organization's identity [48] popularized in all types of organizations. Cooperative organizations use mission statements to generate a strong corporate ethos [45]. Considering their mission statements, the general aims and objectives of the cooperatives can be categorized on three dimensions: the economic dimension, the environmental dimension and the social dimension. On the economic dimension, RE co-ops underline their cooperative nature and their efforts to empower the local economy and generate local employment. They also frequently highlight their role in facing up to the oligopolistic power of the conventional big companies that commercialize electric power in Spain. These organizations also outline their direct service (with high quality standards) and contacts that provide to the consumers, a very different model compared to the service model provided by the conventional big suppliers. The RE coops point to the role they play in stabilizing prices and in setting fair prices, a well-known problem in Spain that has been subject to frequent media scrutiny. For example, Nosa Enerxía [49] explains in its mission statement that ‘the objective of Nosa Enerxía is the commercialization of energy that comes from renewable sources to all the members of the cooperative, giving to them a quality service at a fair price’. On the environmental dimension, RE co-ops, in their missions and other documents, as well as in the interviews, underline their central role in fostering a new energy model. Similarly, the role of the cooperatives in paving the way towards energy sovereignty is also highlighted. For example, Solabria [50] and GoiEner [51] state (identically) that it ‘is a cooperative project of generation and consumption of renewable energy aimed at recovering energy sovereignty’. Similarly, Barrizar [52], another Spanish RE co-op, highlights that its mission is to ‘Promote, generate and implement [RE] projects aimed at reducing our energy dependency through the use of renewable [energies]’. Most of the cooperatives also underline the central role of the efficient production and consumption of energy, even though the latter leads a reduction of income of the RE co-ops. Some cooperatives, like Barrizar [52], mention among their general aims and objectives the protection of the environment and biodiversity, but without a specific focus on these issues. As can be seen in Table 4, many RE co-ops have the desire to generate the energy demanded by their partners, but the reality is that practically all the energy they sell is not produced by the cooperatives. There are many obstacles to meeting demand from

5. Results 5.1. General overview A brief introduction to the history of Spanish RE co-ops is relevant to contextualize the results of the field work. In Spain there have been two periods of creation of energy cooperatives: the first in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, closely linked to the process of dissemination of Spanish energy cooperatives, and the second more recently since 2010. In the first phase, since there was no public sector responsibility for the energy sector, over two thousand energy cooperatives were set up in many areas of Spain. Among those energy cooperatives there were many RE co-ops, based on hydroelectric power. After the Civil War most of them disappeared in a process of business concentration. At present there are only about 15 companies from this first wave [42]. Grupo Enercoop (see Table 4) is one of them. In the most recent phase, the launch of Som Energia played a very important role. There are several factors that enabled the start-up of this RE co-op, which has been a key factor in provoking this recent development of cooperatives in Spain. An important factor is the systemic economic 1039

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Table 4 Detailed information from RE co-ops in Spain. Declared services

Barrizar

EnergÉtica

GoiEner

Nosa Enerxía

Som Energia

Zencer Megara Energía

Grupo Enercoop

Seneo

Econactiva

Solabria

La Corriente

1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 1. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2.

Dimension of the RE co-op

Projects and installations of RE (biomass, solar power, hydraulic power, etc) Energy studies and planning Measures for energy efficiency Certification of green energy Electric power commercialization RE production Communication, diffusion, awareness-raising, events Education (Energy School) Electric power commercialization Consultancy Fostering and education on energy issues Electric power commercialization (core activity) RE production (conditioned to the economic capacity) “Green” and social awareness-raising RE production (biomass, wind, solar power, etc) financed by the contributions of the members Electric power commercialization Electric power commercialization Commercialization of electric power of renewable origin (certified) Dissemination of measures for energy efficiency (in progress) Fight against the energy poverty suffered by more and more Spanish citizens (in progress) RE production (solar power and hydroelectric power) Electric power distribution and commercialization Very diverse social action to the local community Commercialization of electric power of renewable origin (certified) RE production (in progress) Services for energy efficiency (in progress) Generation and commercialization of electric power of renewable origin (certified) Consultancy for electric power consume Installation of equipment for energy efficiency and energy efficiency audits Education for the use and promotion of green energy for citizens, local administrations and SMEs Commercialization of electric power 100% of renewable origin Workshops for education Dissemination and awareness-raising for RE Commercialization of electric power Educative actions of the members and for the general public

Energy/Power

Members

Contracts

Electric power / Thermal energy Off-grid: 43,079 / 20,862 kWhe/ year Gridded: 23,730 / 40,210 kWhe/ year

24

15

0.85 MW

963

1047

19.0 MW

7816

9782

0.358 MW

503

465

Commerc.: 189 MW Generation: 5,1 GW h

43,194

66,942

4.5 MW 720 MW (in colaboration with GoiEner)

1000 212

1253 316

40 MVA (transformation power)

10,851

14,033

3.5 MW

1675

2053

Commerc.: n.a. (in colaboration with GoiEner) Generation: Solar PV 2 MW (Gridded)

89

1500

1.728 MW

147

50

0.984 MW

137

124

Fig. 2. Evolution of RE generation in Spain (2007–2016). Source: adapted from REE [44]. Note: (1) Does not include pumped storage generation. (2) Includes biogas, biomass, geothermal, marine hydro and renewable waste.

EnergÉtica's [53] mission is ‘to work for a new energy model in which the sustainability and the empowerment of the civil society in the design of the energy model will have a more relevant role’. They also highlight their core basic cooperative principles, such as the transparency. Som Energia [54], the biggest Spanish RE co-op from Catalonia, underlines that ‘the cooperative is devoted to its members efficiently, transparently and responsibly’. Similarly, RE co-ops also point out their independence, their local dimension and inter-cooperation (in the words of Barrizar [52], ‘collaborations with other cooperatives in order to achieve common

generation in cooperatives. The lack of grants to RE in Spain and specific regulatory problems are the most frequently mentioned. In recent years there have been some interesting projects aimed at increasing the potential to establish specific projects of RE generation. For example, several projects by Som Energia have been based on crowd funding. On the social dimension, RE co-ops underline their relevance in driving a certain type of economic development, based on the empowerment of the community. The general aim is to change the Spanish energy model together with community development. For example,

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opportunities for these organizations to grow. The interviewees stated that this situation could be resolved if public contracts for energy supply were promoted in smaller amounts to facilitate access of the small operators such as the RE co-ops.

objectives’) and the democratic principle based on the one-member-onevote principle. These organizations also refer to their relevance in empowering the community and citizens as a mean to alleviate very relevant and widespread social problems such as energy poverty. The role of the voluntary work was also mentioned frequently in the interviews that were carried out. In many of the RE co-ops the role of the voluntary work in both the long term and the day-to-day management aspects of the organizations should be highlighted. In many cases volunteers are deeply involved in the management of the RE co-ops (but are not professionalized) and have a qualified technical profile. In some cases (as in the case of Goiener), their links to other stakeholders, such as university lecturers and researchers, may also be highlighted.

5.5. The potential for RE production by RE co-ops A set of these cooperatives aim to foster and develop investment for RE generation facilities to satisfy the demand from their members. For that purpose, the cooperatives are lobbying at different levels to promote generation projects and to offer a community alternative that can replace the incentives for renewable projects that have been withdrawn and overcome the barriers to individual self-production introduced by the recent Spanish regulations [43]. Som Energía S. Coop. recently launched an initiative called "Generation kW h" with the aim of promoting facilities owned by the cooperative itself. In order to finance the facilities for RE production, the members of the cooperative invest money in “energy shares” in relation to the electricity they use annually (the price of each share is 100 Euros). The capital is used to promote photovoltaic, wind-power and mini-hydraulic RE facilities. The cooperative guarantees contributing members that their contribution will be returned within the 25 years of the contract at 0% interest. During the 25 years the members of the cooperative will receive an amount of electricity at cost price. In another scheme, Econactiva S. Coop. promotes the generation of RE facilities owned by members of the cooperative, by financing the acquisition of self-consumption equipment by its members. The funding of these projects is financed by a monthly deduction included in the regular bill paid by the members who subscribe to this option. The cooperative also gives assistance to its members for the registration of their self-consumption installation with the appropriate authorities. Another model for promoting RE has been adopted by Goiener S. Coop., which acts as an agent in the electricity market and the Technical Accreditation Certificate to access the Spanish Electricity Information Systems. Although this cooperative does not have any production facilities, because of the adverse Spanish regulatory context, it does provide a service by representing the members who produce RE. For example, they give assistance to the members in the process of selling the energy they produce, and help them find a secure and stable market. It has to be emphasized that in Spain, RE co-ops, like other operators, guarantee the renewable source of electrical energy through the mechanism of Guarantee-of-Origin Certificates. These certificates allow RE co-ops to sell the energy consumed by its member as RE, even though it may be produced outside the cooperative by other producers. All the analyzed RE co-ops emphasize that the energy that they sell comes from RE sources and that this issue is assured by Guarantee-ofOrigin Certificates, frequently referred to as ‘green certificates’ or ‘renewable certificates’. In some cases the interpretation of the certificates and their general role in reducing environmental impact is rather ambiguous or not very accurate. For example, in the case of Grupo Enercoop [55] the following statement is included in their mission: ‘The entire energy production of this entity has zero emissions to the atmosphere and it works consistently to ensure that all the distributed energy is also 100% clean, like that which is generated’.

5.3. Main benefits proposed by the RE co-ops With regard to the declared benefits of being a member of an RE coop, some differences may be considered. In small organizations, such as in Barrizar [52], the integrated management and the closeness to the members in the service is highlighted. Similarly, the involvement, participation and commitment of members, providing knowledge, investment, goods or work, is underlined. In bigger organizations, such as Enercoop [55], the benefits are more related to the act of consumption and the quality of the service provided by the organization and the price at which is provided. Goiener [51], for example, underlines that one of the main benefits of being member of the RE co-op is ‘receiving a better and more transparent service’. This organization also underlines the ‘optimal business model’ that RE co-ops entail, ‘without advertising costs, without big wages for the managers, with modest and efficient offices and with web-based management and communication’. In this vein, the ease with which a supply contract can be changed from a conventional electric power provider is underlined as one of the main important benefits for members of cooperatives. Energética [53] states that, ‘with a simple procedure, via the web, without technical changes of the installation, you can get the membership in Energética’. This benefit is underlined because traditionally it has been very complicated in Spain (e.g. many administrative procedures have to be carried out) to change the company that provides basic services to households such as water, gas and telephone services. Similarly, the general idea or principle of ownership of the cooperative ― well rooted in the cooperative movement ― is emphasized by the organizations. La Corriente [56] says that ‘to be a member of the cooperative means to be a co-owner of an energy company, independent of the big companies and that bets for the renewables’. Similarly, the integration of the generated benefits in the RE co-ops is an idea that it is also frequently underlined. For example, Seneo [57] points out that ‘the benefits are for home: as [Seneo] is a cooperative with no speculation aim, all the benefits that are achieved with the commercialization of green energy among the members revert to the cooperative’. 5.4. Main flaws and barriers for RE co-ops Several flaws and barriers are mentioned by the interviewees which slow down the growth of organizations. Among those obstacles, the ones that appear to have the greatest weight, according to the sources consulted, are of a regulatory nature. The legal framework of the electricity system in Spain is one of the more substantive issues for RE co-ops to grow and move forward. These small organizations have a large entry barrier to access to the public energy purchasing markets, because the public bidding documents establish a series of barriers that exclude RE co-ops in practice. The contracts require technical solvency and financial guarantees that these small organizations cannot achieve. As a result, RE co-ops, despite being competitive, do not have the financial strength of large companies and are excluded from this segment of the general market of electric power, which should provide

5.6. The potential of networking for RE co-ops Finally, with regards to the membership of cooperative networks, it has to be underlined that at the beginning of May 2016, the ‘National Union of Renewable Energy Electricity Cooperatives’ (UNCCUER) was established with the aim of unifying all the cooperatives in Spain. The association aims to ‘group efforts in the joint promotion of the commercialization of 100% renewable and cooperative energy’ [58]. This association includes EnergÉtica S Coop., GoiEner S Coop., Nosa Enerxía S 1041

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strategy and the main objectives established by the Spanish RE co-ops. The findings could help to managers and members of RE co-ops to identify relevant approaches, organizational objectives and measures to be analyzed in depth. For example, the ambiguous approach to the real contribution of RE co-ops in the improvement of environmental impact might be of interest to some managers and/or members of the mentioned organizations. Similarly, the analysis can also help public decision-makers to identify specific public policies and measures that can be implemented in order to foster the dissemination of RE co-ops in countries, such as Spain, that do not have a consolidated tradition for this type of communitarian organization. Beyond the Spanish case, the findings obtained in this article might be interesting for other cases and as a basis for other analyses carried out in other regions, especially in regions that share some of the characteristics of the Spanish case (including other Southern European countries, like Italy and Greece). The limitations of the study, related to the descriptive and exploratory methodology used in it, point to various avenues for future research. Whatever methodology is used for the field work, research in this area of RE and sustainability, in general, is subject to a social desirability bias and researchers tend to be dependent on the information released by organizations themselves. Future studies could further investigate the contribution of RE co-ops through cases studies, action research or participant observation. These studies could shed more light on contextual and managerial aspects that are difficult to observe with other methodologies, such as the real commitment of the members of the RE co-ops and the perceptions of the stakeholders of these organizations. In this vein, future research could investigate the perceptions of different stakeholders in relation to RE co-ops. For example, it would be very interesting to interview or survey the members of the RE co-ops in order to analyze the real expectations that lead them to participate in this type of cooperative organization and their real involvement in their day by day activity. Similarly, future research could analyze the main obstacles and weaknesses mentioned by potential consumers that dissuade them from getting involved in this type of communitarian initiative.

Coop., Zencer S Coop., Megara Energía S Coop., Solabria S Coop. and La Corriente S. Coop. The headquarters of this association is in Valencia and the interviewed manager mentioned that they are in the process of knowing and learning for each other with the aim of concentrating efforts and enhancing synergies. Apart from UNCCUER, membership of the European Federation of Renewable Energy Cooperatives (REScoop) is the only noteworthy membership for Spanish RE co-ops. Just 6 of the 12 Spanish RE co-ops are affiliated, at the present time, to the REScoop. These are Zencer, Som Energia, Nosa Enerxía, Goiener, EnergÉtica and Barrizar. Although there is no formal Spanish network of RE co-ops, many of them (notably Som Energia, Goiener and Nosa Enerxía) have strong contacts and carry out joint projects. The tractor or fostering role of two RE co-ops, Som Energia and Goiener, is also important. These two RE co-ops from Catalonia and the Basque Country, respectively ― two of the regions of Spain with a more active civil society and more prone to the fostering of cooperatives, especially in the latter case [22] ― help to promote local cooperatives all over Spain. Goiener has been the more active RE co-op in networking, in terms of relations with REScoop and the fostering of UNCCUER. 6. Discussion and conclusions Cooperative organizations that foster the production and consumption of RE are flourishing all over the world. As has been shown in this work, Spain is a good example of the strength of the new generation of RE co-ops. In Spain, RE co-ops are legitimized and well-positioned alternatives that aspire to compete in markets dominated by big firms competing in oligopolistic environments. The recent appearance of RE co-ops in Spain might be due to the dissatisfaction of citizens and consumers with the energy model characterized by the dominance of the so-called ‘5 grandes’ (big five) referring to the big five electric companies that dominate the Spanish market for electric power. The potential of these Spanish RE co-ops to lower the purchasing price of electricity ― which has risen sharply in recent years to the point where it has become a political and mass media issue ― and to fight the power of the firms operating in oligopolistic markets, are also very relevant factors. That being said, the proportion of RE generated by RE co-ops in Spain, as in all industrialized countries, still remains minimal because of various financial, regulatory and perceptual barriers [18] such as those discussed in the field work. The guiding role played by the pioneering Som Energia is worthy of mention. This RE co-op drives other organizations to become isomorphic by adopting similar discourses, principles and practices. As underlined by Mignon and Rüdinger [5] in the case of Germany, an early adopter of RE sources and RE co-ops, we found in the case of the Spanish RE co-ops that their ability to develop analogous structures and to organize themselves in associations or networks helps them to face the big challenges they tackle. With regard to the social dimension of the RE co-ops, the role of voluntary work has to be pointed out. The central role of this factor, underlined in the literature (e.g. Yildiz et al. [13]), has also been clearly shown in the case of the most prominent Spanish RE co-ops such as Som Energia and Goiener. All the analyzed RE co-ops emphasize their contribution to both the community and to the environment. But some differences might be highlighted regarding the ambitions expressed by these RE co-ops. In some cases the real aspiration of these organizations does not go beyond the selling of ‘green energy’ (i.e., energy assured by Guarantee-ofOrigin Certificates mechanism). In some other cases, the aspiration is rather different, as they aim to develop specific projects to produce RE. The future will tell if these RE co-ops are capable of acquiring a size and a minimum critical mass to reach broad segments of the Spanish population, something that is currently beyond their reach. This study also has managerial implications as it elucidates the

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