Better off alone?

Community energy has been the topic of increased interest in recent years. This chapter focuses on the development and institutional prerequisites for community energy in Sweden. It describes how a long history of public involvement and responsibility for energy production has led to a highly centralized system. Further, it shows that the development of hydro power, nuclear power and low-carbon district heating, all of which have low CO₂ emissions, mean that organizational and societal space available for community energy is low and thus a high threshold for involvement. This has led to path dependency and obduracy in system thinking. Policy measures have focused on large actors, such as energy companies and corporations, or in recent years individuals, but community energy has never really been acknowledged. This chapter analyzes this development and gives recommendations to stakeholders.