Rural Development Based on Renewable Energies?
Emancipatory Potentials Between Radical Democratic and Neoliberal Logic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v51i204.1959Keywords:
Energy Democracy, Rural Development, Community Energy, Energy Transition, Socio-Ecological Transformation, ScotlandAbstract
Rural areas increasingly gain importance as locales of the energy transition, whereas a decentralised utilisation of renewable energies is often viewed as an opportunity for the economic development of marginalised areas. By means of an example of contested wind farm projects in Scotland, the paper argues that this emancipatory potential strongly depends on the collective ownership of renewable energy infrastructures, while neoliberal politics increasingly undermine the radical democratic ideals of alternative community energy projects.
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