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Ready for new business models? Human and social capital in the management of renewable energy cooperatives in Germany

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  • Herbes, Carsten
  • Rilling, Benedikt
  • Holstenkamp, Lars

Abstract

Policy makers in various countries have made the development of community energy, especially in the form of a renewable energy cooperative (REC), a goal of energy policy. Weaknesses in qualifications of REC management teams have been identified by previous research as a barrier for the further development of RECs, especially when implementation of new business models is needed. Our study is the first to examine in detail the qualifications (human capital) and networks (social capital) of REC management; our data comes from online survey responses from 187 board members of 125 RECs in Germany. We analyzed how many RECs are planning to implement new business models, finding that less than half of the surveyed RECs are planning to do so. Those REC boards that are planning new business models will require skills in sales and marketing, but REC management has qualification weaknesses and gaps in their networks precisely in these two areas. RECs could remedy these problems by bringing onboard new management team members with complementary qualifications and networks, partnering with other RECs and organizations, and training management team members. Policy makers committed to community energy can support RECs through training programs and assistance in building partnership networks.

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  • Herbes, Carsten & Rilling, Benedikt & Holstenkamp, Lars, 2021. "Ready for new business models? Human and social capital in the management of renewable energy cooperatives in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:156:y:2021:i:c:s0301421521002871
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112417
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    3. Wissal Affes & Habib Affes, 2024. "Human Capital, Social Capital and Business Model Design: Empirical Evidence of Tunisian Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 4829-4857, March.
    4. Radtke, Jörg & Bohn, Nino S., 2023. "Mind the gap: Community member perceptions of shortcomings in diversity and inclusivity of local energy projects in Germany," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Kerscher, Selina & Koirala, Arpan & Arboleya, Pablo, 2024. "Grid-optimal energy community planning from a systems perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    6. Piselli, C. & Fronzetti Colladon, A. & Segneri, L. & Pisello, A.L., 2022. "Evaluating and improving social awareness of energy communities through semantic network analysis of online news," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    7. Maria Rosaria Di Nucci & Michael Krug & Lucas Schwarz & Vincenzo Gatta & Erik Laes, 2023. "Learning from Other Community Renewable Energy Projects: Transnational Transfer of Multi-Functional Energy Gardens from the Netherlands to Germany," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-24, April.
    8. Myriam Caratù & Valerio Brescia & Ilaria Pigliautile & Paolo Biancone, 2023. "Assessing Energy Communities’ Awareness on Social Media with a Content and Sentiment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-28, April.

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