The energy transition offers the opportunity to strengthen democratic levers of our societies in favor of a new kind of energy governance put in place by, and for, stakeholders of the territories. The term “energy democracy” is increasingly used to refer to the transition to a governance of energy that is more endogenous, shared, and for which benefits serve local development in favor of the common good. Several territories lend themselves to the exercise and seize the opportunity of the energy transition to locally develop new ways of approaching and governing energy in closer connection with society and citizens. In France, certain territories are developing new territorial dynamics exploring alternative and more horizontal approaches to local governance of their energy resources. Positive Energy Territories, made up of intermunicipal agencies committing to producing more renewable energy by 2050 than they consume, are anchored in this dynamic of energy governance relocalization.
This research focuses on Oléron and Aunis Atlantique, two territories in Charente-Maritime that are members of the Positive Energy Territories network of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It studies how these territories have developed four flagship energy democracy initiatives, and how these have contributed to the democratization of local energy governance. The results suggest that the dynamic proposed by the program has helped to set up tools that have contributed to a strong dynamic around a local and citizen public solar development on the Island of Oléron and to support the emergence of a first citizen energy company in Charente-Maritime, Oléron Sous le Soleil 17. In Aunis Atlantique, a permanent citizen advisory committee created to initiate a bilateral dialogue between the inter-municipal authorities and the citizens around the strategic orientations of the territory in regards to energy transition has contributed to the development of local actions in this area. This project subsequently gave way to the participation of the intermunicipal association in the development of a first citizen wind project for the department. However, several limits have been identified in each of the territories in relation to the research object. The initiatives put in place remain considerably top-down and vulnerable to local political ecosystems and are also ultimately aimed at a very small part of the local population. Diverging approaches towards citizen energies have also proven to lead to different outcomes in terms of citizen access to energy means of production in both territories, underlining the heterogeneous nature of these projects. The territorial integration of studied initiatives is in this sense sometimes suboptimal.
To conclude, the study highlights different conceptions of energy democracy between the different territorial levels of and multi-scale articulation problems within the Positive Energy Territories program of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is recommended that the program evolve so as to promote support for the emergence of more decentralized and multilateral dynamics and in terms of energy democracy based on intellectual ownership of the issue.