Understanding involvement in energy communities: the role of energy citizenship and community factors

Energy communities (ECs) are collective initiatives in which citizens jointly engage in the production, distribution and storage of renewable energy. Through their involvement in ECs, citizens take responsibility for contributing to the energy transition, often conceptualised as a form of energy citizenship. However, involvement in ECs remains limited, highlighting the need for new perspectives on EC involvement. This study combines insights from energy citizenship and community research within a conceptual framework to examine how citizens' roles in the energy transition and their community context are associated with involvement in ECs. Using quantitative survey data from two complementary exploratory studies conducted in the northern Netherlands, the analysis distinguishes between actual involvement and willingness to become involved. The regression analyses show that involvement and willingness are associated with partly different, yet overlapping, sets of factors. While involvement is more strongly associated with participative efficacy, social norms, and attitudinal factors, willingness is primarily related to expectations regarding governmental responsibility and physical place attachment. Both actual involvement and willingness are associated with a preference for collective rather than individual action and with a willingness to contribute to the local community. Furthermore, clear differences emerge between involved and non-involved citizens in their motivations. Involved citizens tend to emphasise sustainability-related and community-oriented aspects, whereas non-involved citizens place greater emphasis on practical considerations such as costs, perceived benefits, and reliability. These findings provide new insights into the multifaceted nature of energy citizenship and highlight the importance of considering community and institutional conditions when promoting involvement in ECs.