Leech Lake Community Solar Array First in MN to be 100% Dedicated to Low-Income Residents

By Anna Carlson, Clean Energy Resource Teams

At a ceremony, fittingly under sunny skies, Leech Lake officials and representatives from the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance unveiled a new solar array at the Prescott Community Center. The walls of solar panels at the community center are one of five spread throughout the reservation, with others at the Palace Casino, Leech Lake Tribal College, the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance office in Pine River and a fifth in Jackson Village.

Shared Renewables Hold Big Potential for Communities Left Out of Clean Energy Programs

By Nithin Coca, Shareable

Shared renewables is a democratic system, in which a community or neighborhood collectively owns or operates small-scale energy systems. The co-owners do not necessarily have to be neighbors — or even live near each other — depending on the type of system.

Energy Democracy: A Response to Trump’s Climate Wrecking Agenda

By John Farrell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Join Anya Schoolman of the Community Power Network and John Farrell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance who will lead a discussion on how states and communities can push past Trump’s dirty energy agenda, drive down energy cost and boost renewable energy growth.

The Case for Local, Community-led Sustainable Energy Programs

By Wolfgang Hoeschele, Shareable

In a sharing vision of a local renewable energy system, many households will generate their own renewable energy (as in solar photovoltaic or solar thermal systems on their rooftops), but many more, for whom this is not an option, will share in the ownership and operation of off-site renewable energy generation infrastructure such as wind turbines.

Germany Shows it’s Worth Fighting for Energy Democracy

By Arne Jungiohann, Craig Morris, Resilience.org

People soon realized it was not enough to just say no. They needed to offer a better alternative and say yes to something. So the Germans demanded what has since become known as energy democracy: the right to make your own energy.

Is Renewable Energy a Commons?

By Cecile Blanchet, P2P Foundation

Is energy a mere commodity, or is it a common good? Why is this relevant in the first place? Here we look at why energy is part of our commons, from the sources to the product itself.

The Permanent Community Energy Cooperative

By Subin Varghese, P2P Foundation

Permanent Community Energy Cooperatives are an opportunity to start healing the planet and communities today through equitable energy development. They’re also “fun-work” that can bring people together, create results to celebrate, and build stronger bonds for more resilient, thriving communities.

Why Does Community Energy Matter?

By Cecile Blanchet, P2P Foundation

Community energy refers to any kind of power plant using a renewable source of energy, that has been planned, financed and which is owned by a community of people (from the village to the house). And why would these energy communities matter?

The Rise of Community Energy

By Rob Hopkins, Transition Culture

Around the world, the idea that communities install, own, and enjoy some of the benefits of renewable energy is growing fast.

Bristol Energy Cooperative: “it felt right for us to be ambitious”

By Rob Hopkins, Transition Culture

When we fit solar on community buildings, the buildings get cheaper and greener electricity, local people can obviously invest in what we’re doing, and we’ve set up a community fund that will cross-subsidise other energy projects, and indeed, community projects more generally.