The Need

In the last decade, renewable energy has become increasingly popular. Support for a quick transition to “green energy” is more widespread than ever before, and is gaining ground even in sectors and countries that until recently scoffed at the idea that renewable energy sources could contribute in a significant way to advanced energy systems.

Most governments have recently established, or are preparing, specific policies to promote the development of renewable energy. An International Renewable Energy Agency has just been established and will be based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (of all places!). Large companies such as General Electric and Siemens have bought smaller technological pioneers in order to join the booming branch, and growing number of banks and investment funds are placing an ever-increasing share of their assets in this sector. The consistent double-digit growth of the last years passed the test of economic recession: as credit dried up for most industries, renewable energy financing slowed down slightly, but continued flowing. All these factors strengthen the increasingly popular idea that the transition to renewable energy constitutes a “silver bullet” that will solve simultaneously the environmental, economic and employment crises. Renewable energy technologies are presented as the gateway to a bright green future.

But something is missing in this rosy scenario: it does not include a serious analysis of the territorial dimension of renewable energy, the most important area of potential conflict in the transition to a sustainable energy economy.

Control over an energy system based completely on renewable energy sources requires, amongst other things, control over vast territories. This fact is notoriously absent from most analyses of renewable energy. So are its myriad implications for rural communities, for power relations and for society as a whole.

If the transition to renewable energy is undertaken primarily by rural communities, it will be driven (rather than opposed) by communities in areas rich in renewable energy sources, and will therefore enable a faster and more effective response to climate change and other environmental problems related to fossil fuels. It will certainly produce a more fair and democratic economy than one where energy oligopolies control immense territories, in addition to controlling energy, a key production factor for all economic activities. It may also correct the structural imbalance between rural and urban areas brought about by the industrial revolution, which is at the root of most social and environmental challenges faced by humankind.

A community-driven transition requires more than good intentions. Rural communities may have access to land rich in renewable energy sources, but they most often lack access to the technology, the financing, the training and the project management skills necessary to undertake their own renewable energy projects, and therefore cannot make direct use of their renewable energy sources. This puts them in risk of losing control over their land, as is often the case when communities with little power and resources live in areas of strategic importance.