IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2019 - 47

Access to the Process
Access to the process refers to existing institutions
facilitating citizen participation in governance and
increasing access to decision making. A deliberative
democracy is proposed. This approach is related to
"representative democracy," but deliberative democracy considers how decision making could affect different stakeholder groups [9]. Participatory mechanisms
are created to guarantee deliberation and analysis
of proposals.
Another option is an administrative democracy
where institutions are given autonomy by the government to choose their own leadership. This is a way to
decentralize and depoliticize state institutions. From the
point of view of energy, this approach can be very useful in community-based energy strategies since citizens
and communities are better acquainted with local
needs and thus can provide vital information for local
energy decisions and processes. Promoting more participation in government institutions can facilitate basic
consensus regarding energy policy and can produce a
variety of solutions and options in a transition to a
decentralized power generation system [8].
Although established energy actors might be threatened by a decentralized approach, it is still a possible
way to build a more participatory and democratic energy process. Thus, to realize energy democracy and citizen participation, a collaborative approach should be
pursued with existing energy institutions within the traditional political and policy arenas.

Community-Based DERs
In areas with good solar resources, residential, commercial, and industrial rooftops are an important opportunity for a renewable-based electric transformation by
generating and using solar power locally [10]. This distributed generation (DG) could be the least problematic
of electric energy strategies, considering social and ethical aspects [23]. DERs can be aggregated to provide
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power necessary to meet the electric demand and can
facilitate the transition to a smarter grid. DERs are local
energy options that can support socio-economic development and community well-being through cooperative
actions in solar communities and microgrids. Furthermore, a decentralized approach can increase grid reliability and efficiency and reduce line congestion [8].
Renewable-based DG on a distribution system can
change power flow and voltage levels. These changes
can be positive or negative, depending on the distribution system operating characteristics and the DG characteristics. Power fluctuations due to weather conditions,
such as the normalized output from one system illustrated in Figure 1, limit the penetration of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) generators in conventionally designed, built,
maintained, and operated power networks. One way to
increase the penetration of PV generation is to use energy storage, e.g., batteries, whose cost has gone down significantly. Another way to increase the penetration of PV
generators, and currently at a lower cost than storage, is
matching the variations from local renewable energy
sources with proportional reductions in the demand of
local users.

From Passive Consumers to Active Energy Actors
Demand response (DR) is defined as changes in electricity use in response to price changes or to incentive payments. The U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act
of 2007 required the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to develop a national action plan on
demand response. FERC's actions on DR were challenged in a court battle that ended when the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in favor of FERC. DR can be used
to balance supply and demand; instead of increasing
power generation when demand increases, a power

Power (Fraction of Capacity)

participation that foster transparency and accountability. This localism can close the involvement gap between
government and communities, facilitating the emergence of active energy market players within communities [8]. In addition, local control develops a sense of
community and responsibility for present and future
generations. These local arrangements can better
address regional energy and environmental needs. Such
a vision would require new communication venues
among government officials and citizens to motivate
more democratic practices. In addition, the regulatory
regime needs to change beyond the traditional cost of
service regulation to regulations that better align
actions with desired social outcomes [7].

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Time (s)

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FIGURE 1. Power fluctuations in terms of PV capacity.

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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2019

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