Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law

The Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law invites contributions to a Special Issue edited by Maciej M. Sokołowski and Madeline Taylor examining “Catalysing Cooperation for Energy Transition: Enhancing Regulatory Frameworks for Energy Co-location, Cooperatives, and Communities”. We welcome submissions exploring different co-models (including, but not limited to, co-location of net zero energy technology and other land uses, cooperatives, and energy community structures) in multiple contexts, together with proposals of regulatory approaches toward its further development in energy systems.

Background

The historical roots of energy cooperatives date back to the 19th century; nevertheless, a revival of the cooperative model can be observed, particularly in the energy sector, with new examples of decentralised community-focused initiatives and structures, including citizen-driven energy communities. A wide range of literature brings to light the crucial role of cooperatives and other joint forms of cooperation in the pursuit of a just energy system and energy transition.

A number of key areas in the existing socio-legal literature examining co-location, cooperatives, and energy communities remain evident. For instance, energy cooperatives are often depicted as an alternative legal entity and vehicle harnessing energy justice principles. For example, the application of solar photovoltaics to co-locate with agricultural activities and biodiversity benefits to produce agrivoltaics and ecovoltaic applications remains underexplored in the literature in the context of community and cooperative structures from a regulatory perspective. The efficiency of different cooperative models in acquiring a just energy system in different jurisdictions, adopting a suite of net zero energy technologies, across varied and diverse communities remain under-examined.

In this light, this Special Issue aims to broaden the discourse on different forms of energy cooperation and provide it with new and leading perspectives. We anticipate contributions surveying different country, state, and local-level regulatory approaches to co-location, cooperation, and communities that captures the socio-economic benefits and challenges that accompany the development of collaborative and co-location models in the energy sector. Contributions to our Special Issue will further map out legal dimensions of energy cooperatives’ evolution, different forms of energy project co-location, and communities together with answering the question of what legal solutions are most conducive to its advancement in the context of the just energy transition.

We welcome papers from authors of different backgrounds to be proposed for this Special Issue. The contributions could be (but are not exhaustive or limited to) related any of the following areas:

• Energy cooperatives, communities, and different structures as an alternative to other ownership models;
• Co-locating renewable energy, storage, and renewable hydrogen with agriculture, biodiversity, and other enhancement activities.
• Cooperative frameworks in the light of the Energy Justice paradigm;
• Energy cooperatives, communities, and other joint forms as a legal instrument of energy transition;
• Regional and domestic legislative approaches toward local and community joint energy projects;
• Energy cooperatives and communities in the Law and Economics;
• Comparative studies on governance and policy approaches for developing energy cooperatives, communities, and co-location;
• Examining legal remedies for the impediments to energy cooperatives’ advancement; and
• Regulatory case studies.

If interested, please submit a 500-word abstract with affiliation by 29th February 2024. Decisions on abstracts will be communicated to contributors by 10^th March 2024.

Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to submit their paper to the Special Issue. The papers should be around 7,000 – 9,000 words including footnotes. All submissions should be single-spaced, Times New Roman 12, and should be done through the submission portal by selecting the Special Issue’s title when submitting to ScholarOne. Papers sent after the deadline or with skipping the abstract process will not be taken into consideration.

Please email [email protected] for all submissions and queries.

 

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