Beatrice Petrovich (Switzerland)
University of St.Gallen
Institute for Economy and the Environment
Beatrice is a Postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Economy and the Environment (University of St.Gallen). The focus of her work is investments in residential solar energy and community acceptance of local renewable energy systems. Since 2021, she is part of the EU Horizon 2020 E-LAND project and she is working on creating a tool for facilitating community acceptance of local renewable energy sources and decarbonized local energy systems. Beatrice is also part of the research team developing the 2021 edition of the Consumer Barometer of Renewable Energy (www.kuba.iwoe.unisg.ch) and an Executive Education lecturer within the University of St.Gallen CAS in Renewable Energy Management. Prior to joining the Institute for Economy and the Environment, she worked for 5 years as an energy consultant and editor, specializing in energy market regulation and in the design for the European Union single energy market. From 2012 to 2017 Beatrice collaborated as Visiting Research Fellow with the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Beatrice holds a MSc in economics from the University of Milan-Bicocca (Italy) and completed a one-year exchange at the University of Glasgow (UK).

Presenter of 1 Presentation

 Conference Calendar

THE COMMON IMPACT MODEL: A STANDARDIZED METHODOLOGY FOR COMMUNITY ACCEPTANCE OF DECARBONIZED MULTIVECTOR LOCAL ENERGY SYSTEMS

Session Name
0230 - Academic Sessions - Circular 03: Low-carbon, renewable energy systems & measuring circularity (ID 53)
Session Type
Academic Sessions
Date
02/23/2022
Session Time
09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Room

Hall B

Presenter
Lecture Time
09:40 AM - 09:50 AM

Abstract

Abstract Body

Today, cities, towns, and villages can increasingly rely on clean and locally produced energy to satisfy their power, heating and mobility needs. The successful and long-lasting adoption of innovative solutions for clean local energy provision, however, requires engaging many actors and achieving acceptance of energy innovations from different stakeholders.

Our work presents the Common Impact Model (CIM), a structured process to facilitate and manage community acceptance of Decarbonized Multivector Local Energy Systems. The CIM is a hands-on methodology for urban planners, energy managers and those who are interested in establishing a decarbonized local energy system. It helps design solutions for the energy transition of sustainable cities, including collectively shared urban renewables, citizen co-financing of local renewable energy projects, energy peer-to-peer trading schemes or renewable energy cooperatives. Underpinned by the academic literature on the governance and social acceptance of collective energy solutions, the CIM comprises of a 3-step methodology to 1) collect data and map the community over the multiple dimensions that affect stakeholders’ willingness to participate in a local energy system; 2) synthesize this data and draw recommendations on the optimal community engagement actions and governance structure; 3) establish a “plan-do-check-act” cycle where communication and engagement activities are planned and followed by a performance evaluation resulting in improved engagement measures.

Our work illustrates how the CIM has been successfully piloted in markedly different environmental, cultural and economic contexts - a sea port in Norway, a technology park in Spain, and a university campus in Romania – and how it has built acceptance for solutions that generate locally clean energy for their community members. The Common Impact Model is part of the E-LAND toolbox, which was developed by the European-funded H2020 project E-LAND and includes a modular set of tools to establish, optimize and control multivector energy systems.

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