Citizen Participation and Engagement in Local Energy Communities: Governing Sustainable Energy Transitions Through Human-Centric Approaches

Local energy communities (LECs) are instruments that foster citizen-driven sustainable energy transition, since they manage the generation, exchange and distribution of clean energy. To achieve sustainable energy transitions, there is a need to engage citizens towards achieving fair, just, and inclusive energy management. However, citizen engagement in LECs is challenged by inconsistent design, inadequate local capacity and low public trust in governmental processes, ultimately undermining their efficiency. Existing research on LECs mostly focuses on raising awareness on deployment and acceptance of sustainable energy transition. Hitherto, there are fewer studies that explore renewable energy policy, management and social aspects, and energy participatory approaches in LECs. To this end, a qualitative review was carried out to identify current and imminent challenges and guidelines to be employed for inclusive governance structures needed to engage citizens in sustainable energy initiatives. Moreover, grounded in participatory designs, this study examines management and social barriers that influence citizen participation and engagement in community energy initiatives. Implications from this study contribute towards understanding the importance of community engagement in sustainable energy transition. The findings examine how citizen engagement or the lack thereof ultimately guides the outcome of renewable energy projects in LECs. Additional findings from this article explore the role of citizen participation for community-driven sustainable energy transitions to support the co-creation of clean energy characterized by a high level of energy consumer involvement in LECs.