Session 2. 5. C.

Energy has always been a central part of the 1600 commoners’ organizations in Switzerland. The access to timber but also forests for multiple reasons had been a central part of rights and duties of Swiss Commoners systems since the 13th century before the energy turn to fossil energy sources. Commoners’ organizations own 1/3 of all forests in Switzerland in common property and are the main force to maintain biodiverse cultural landscape ecosystems. But since the devaluation of timber as an energy source after the energy turn to fossil sources, the economic value of forests has been massively reduced. Therefore, the use value has been transformed to a burden, as the maintenance costs financially are rising and cannot be covered by subsidies. But as many commoner’s organizations hold the value of identity and relation to the collective forests high, they still manage them outside the capitalist value system. They maintain them via internal cross subsidies by income from real estate land, housing and gastronomy and some of them also using income from water rights for hydropower. But since the green energy turn, increasingly also timber as a regrowing natural source of energy becomes important. The paper shows two cases from commoner’s organization in the German speaking (Sarnen, Canton Obwalden) and the French speaking part (Val D’Annivier, Canton Valais) illustrating how innovative initiatives of commoners’ organizations led to decentralized heating systems for otherwise undervalued timber not being used for construction work. This is an important decentralized contribution to the energy transition, while at the same time maintaining the ecosystem services of the protection forests so important to mitigate climate change. However, in the ongoing debate on the green energy turn, this additional source of diversifying green energy adding to wind, water and solar tends to ignore this important option.

Reframing energy as a commons necessitates a radically different techno-institutional foundation for a just and sustainable energy transformation. This paper presentation reports on research on the energy commons, identifying known and potential tensions and contradictions for their realization. A review of literature reveals what is common (or not) in energy commons research and practice across material, institutional, and cultural dimensions. These patterns in turn point toward contradictions related to inclusion and exclusion, Western-centric and pluriversal perspectives, decentralized and coordinated governance, local and extended technological systems, and oppositional and complementary relations to capitalist markets and states. We then propose responses and potential pathways toward resolution of these contradictions, suggesting more integrated and inclusive approaches while recognizing the reality of ongoing conflict in practices of energy commoning. While the energy commons may overlap with frameworks such as energy justice, energy citizenship, and energy democracy, they provide a distinct lens through which to critique and expand existing energy arrangements and achieve alternative energy futures.

This paper critically examines how existing renewable energy policies in the United States enable or hinder the development of commoning practices in energy systems, with a focus on the rapidly expanding sector of large-scale solar (LSS) energy deployment. As the transition to renewable energy accelerates, there is a growing tension between top-down, large-scale energy infrastructure projects and bottom-up, community-driven initiatives. This research explores the policy landscape that shapes these dynamics and its implications for energy commons.

Drawing on an analysis of federal and state-level renewable energy policies, as well as case studies of LSS siting processes, we investigate how current policy frameworks impact community engagement, local control, and collective ownership in energy systems. We argue that while many policies aim to accelerate renewable energy deployment, they often prioritize large-scale, corporate-led projects over community-based initiatives, potentially undermining the development of energy commons.

Our findings reveal a complex interplay between policy incentives, market forces, and community interests. We identify key policy barriers to energy commoning, such as limited support for community-owned projects, complex permitting processes, challenges with grid connection, and insufficient mechanisms for meaningful public participation in energy planning. Conversely, we also highlight innovative policy approaches that have successfully fostered energy commons, including community benefit agreements, virtual net metering, and participatory siting processes.

By examining these policy dynamics in the context of LSS deployment, we contribute to broader discussions on the role of institutional frameworks in shaping common pool resource management. We conclude by proposing policy recommendations that could better support energy communing practices while still meeting broader renewable energy goals, emphasizing the need for more flexible, inclusive, and locally-responsive policy approaches in the ongoing energy transition.

Agrivoltaics is the co-location of agricultural production and solar energy generation, and it comes in many configurations including livestock grazing, crop cultivation, controlled environment agriculture and pollinator habitat. While feasible at utility scale, agrivoltaics holds the most promise for ground- or greenhouse-mounted community solar projects. The dual-use arrangement of agrivoltaics allows for increased land productivity, greater environmental resilience and more local control of both energy and food system benefits. In this paper, we share opportunities for agrivoltaics on Tribal lands and how Tribal agricultural professionals see parallels with existing food and energy sovereignty movements. We will also reflect on the connections between Indigenous frameworks of food and energy sovereignty and contemporary understandings of food and energy commons. Agrivoltaics is one way for Tribes to manage the earth’s collective resources of land and solar power while increasing access and equity in food and energy systems.

As global challenges related to climate change intensify, societies are exploring innovative approaches to mitigate its impacts. A key strategy is the transition to renewable energy, which has the potential to enable more localized and democratic production, fostering polycentric governance and transforming energy resources into commons. Local energy communities are emerging as a transformative model, comprised of individuals, small enterprises, and local authorities that collaboratively produce, consume, store, and sell renewable energy, along with many other community actions. Unlike large energy companies, communities prioritize social, economic, and environmental benefits for local areas over financial gain, potentially catalyzing broader social transformations. This study examines the transformative potential of energy communities in rural Spain, where climate change interacts with depopulation and market integration pressures. Methodologically, the study combines qualitative data obtained through a participatory workshop and interviews. According to preliminary results, energy communities provide many common and public goods other than just energy, including increased environmental awareness, citizen participation, social cohesion, and an enhanced sense of belonging. Barriers to their emergence and endurance include limited time and knowledge among citizens, corporate capture and legal uncertainty, while facilitators include funding opportunities, a culture of rural community engagement, established energy community networks and support from local governments and cooperative energy marketers within the social and solidarity economy. These and other evidence suggest that energy communities have a great potential to combine rural revitalization and climate resilience.

New tidal and wave power infrastructures are part of increasingly busy, multi-purpose oceanic spaces, in which many analysts also see great risks and the need for new communing institutions and norms towards marine justice. Like other nascent industries, marine renewables are shaped by sedimented economic and political patterns and visions, that affect how these technologies are taken up- or not.
The Canadian province of Nova Scotia claims the most powerful tides in the world, and has invested heavily for a decade in developing tidal turbine stations. Though many agree that the idea is good, the decision-making process around investment, benefit-sharing and environmental impact have been very fraught. This paper examines the effect on the tidal power dream of local fishery struggles, evolving relations with First Nations land and sea stewards, and the push-and pull around decarbonizing Canada. It uses early results from stakeholder interviews and participant-observation to analyse the experience of tidal energy production, and what a tidal energy commons might look like. Lastly, the paper asks how this particular form of making and sharing energy is similar or different from locally established common-pool resources such as coastal tourist sites or education.