Presented by Dr Jarra Hicks from Community Power Agency in partnership with Sustainability Victoria’s Community Power Hub program.
These webinars will take you through the process of understanding and analysing how the design of your enterprise model impacts on how people participate in the project.
1. Introduction to designing community owned energy projects with strong community participation
We cover why participation is so important for community owned renewable energy projects, and what important outcomes participation produces for projects and communities. We expand on the ‘Spectrum of Public Participation’ and introduce the ‘Participation Footprint’ as an effective visual tool for analysing participation. Features Australian case study examples.
2. Facilitating participation through economic arrangements
Here we explain how the design of community owned renewable energy enterprises impacts on community participation. This webinar outlines the diverse range of economic arrangements that community energy groups draw on to deliver successful projects, including donations, volunteer time, in-kind contributions, share offers, grants, etc, and also what these different economic options mean for how people participate (or not) in the project. Features Australian case study examples.
3. Participation through governance structures.
Explaining different governance structures including both legal structure (e.g. cooperative, company, association) and “extra-legal” elements (e.g. policies, certifications, culture) and how this influences participation. Highlighting different possible choices around membership limits, voting rights, quorum, surplus distribution, etc. and what is possible within different legal structures. Also outlining options for protecting and embedding your mission and values over the lifetime of the project. Features Australian case study examples.
4. Facilitating participation through community engagement practices.
Community engagement practices are often the first thing people think of when facilitating participation in community owned renewable energy projects – and certainly it is a crucial part of the mix. We highlight different community engagement techniques (e.g. tours, workshops, visioning processes, forums, stalls, education programs, etc.) that can be used and when to do engagement. We also explore how to tailor community engagement to your local context and project type and explore Australian case studies.
