Zum Stand von Energiegenossenschaften in Deutschland: Ein statistischer Überblick zum 31. Dezember 2012

Die Gründungsdynamik im Bereich der Energiegenossenschaften setzt sich auf dem Niveau des Jahres 2011 fort. Zum Ablauf des Jahres 2012 waren 754 Energiegenossenschaften in den Genossenschaftsregistern eingetragen. Das Jahr 2012 übertrifft mit 199 Neueintragungen im Bereich der Energiegenossenschaften das Jahr 2011 leicht. Regionale Schwerpunkte der Entwicklung sind Bayern, Baden-Württemberg und Niedersachsen. Die genutzten Daten wurden durch Abfragen öffentlicher Register gewonnen und stellen eine Vollerhebung des Feldes zum Ablauf des Jahres 2012 dar

Zum Stand von Energiegenossenschaften in Deutschland: Aktualisierter Überblick über Zahlen und Entwicklungen zum 31.12.2014

Nach den starken Zuwächsen in den vergangenen Jahren ist die Gründungsdynamik im Bereich der Energiegenossenschaften im Jahr 2014 zum Erliegen gekommen. Zum Ablauf des Jahres 2014 waren 973 Energiegenossenschaften in den Genossenschaftsregistern eingetragen. Insgesamt wurden im Jahr 2014 66 Energiegenossenschaften neu in die Register eingetragen, von denen jedoch nur 29 auch im Jahr 2014 gegründet wurden. Im Jahr 2013 wurden noch 104 Energiegenossenschaften neu gegründet und 172 in den Genossenschaftsregistern registriert. Unter den Neugründungen befinden sich schwerpunktmäßig Energieproduktionsgenossenschaften, gleichauf mit Nahwärmenetzgenossenschaften

Are Consumers Willing to Pay More for Electricity from Cooperatives? Results from an Online Choice Experiment in Germany

With liberalization in 1998, numerous firms have entered the German retail electricity market, including newly formed cooperatives. Based on Transaction Cost Economics, we develop a theoretical framework seeking to explain preferences for electricity supplied by cooperatives from a consumer perspective. Drawing on a convenience sample of 287 German electricity consumers and Choice Experiment data from an online survey, we estimate Willingness-to-Pay values for organizational attributes of electricity suppliers, while accounting for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. Consumers in the sample exhibit a large Willingness-to-Pay for renewable energy. Our results also indicate a substantial Willingness-to-Pay for transparent pricing, participation in decision making, and local suppliers. Democratic decision making – a distinct feature of cooperatives – exhibits positive Willingness-to-Pay values for approximately one fifth of the sample. Taken together, our findings suggest a slightly higher Willingness-to-Pay for electricity produced by cooperatives. Limitations of applied sampling and other important aspects of energy transition are also discussed

Quality Uncertainty and the Market for Renewable Energy: Evidence from German Consumers

Consumers can choose from a wide range of electricity supply contracts, including green power options. Electricity produced from renewable energy involves information asymmetries. With a sample of more than 2,000 German electricity consumers, we tested the proposition of a “lemon market” for renewable energy in a discrete choice experiment. Specifically, we found that, compared to investor-owned firms, additional willingness-to-pay (WTP) for renewable energy is approximately double when offered by cooperatives or municipally-owned electricity utilities. Consumers who are experienced with switching suppliers have an additional WTP of one Eurocent per kilowatt hour for cooperatives and two Eurocents for public enterprises. The results demonstrate that organizational transformation in dynamically-changing electricity markets is not only driven by political initiatives but also by consumers’ choices on the market. Public policy may reduce information asymmetries by promoting government labeling of green energy products

Quality Uncertainty and the Market for Renewable Energy: Evidence from German Consumers

Consumers can choose from a wide range of electricity supply contracts, including green power options. Electricity produced from renewable energy involves information asymmetries. With a sample of more than 2,000 German electricity consumers, we tested the proposition of a “lemon market” for renewable energy in a discrete choice experiment. Specifically, we found that, compared to investor-owned firms, additional willingness-to-pay (WTP) for renewable energy is approximately double when offered by cooperatives or municipally-owned electricity utilities. Consumers who are experienced with switching suppliers have an additional WTP of one Eurocent per kilowatt hour for cooperatives and two Eurocents for public enterprises. The results demonstrate that organizational transformation in dynamically-changing electricity markets is not only driven by political initiatives but also by consumers’ choices on the market. Public policy may reduce information asymmetries by promoting government labeling of green energy products

Topographic asymmetry of the South Atlantic from global models of mantle flow and lithospheric stretching

The relief of the South Atlantic is characterized by elevated passive continental margins along southern Africa and eastern Brazil, and by the bathymetric asymmetry of the southern oceanic basin where the western flank is much deeper than the eastern flank. We investigate the origin of these topographic features in the present and over time since the Jurassic with a model of global mantle flow and lithospheric deformation. The model progressively assimilates plate kinematics, plate boundaries and lithospheric age derived from global tectonic reconstructions with deforming plates, and predicts the evolution of mantle temperature, continental crustal thickness, long-wavelength dynamic topography, and isostatic topography. Mantle viscosity and the kinematics of the opening of the South Atlantic are adjustable parameters in thirteen model cases. Model predictions are compared to observables both for the present-day and in the past. Present-day predictions are compared to topography, mantle tomography, and an estimate of residual topography. Predictions for the past are compared to tectonic subsidence from backstripped borehole data along the South American passive margin, and to dynamic uplift as constrained by thermochronology in southern Africa. Comparison between model predictions and observations suggests that the first-order features of the topography of the South Atlantic are due to long-wavelength dynamic topography, rather than to asthenospheric processes. The uplift of southern Africa is best reproduced with a lower mantle that is at least 40 times more viscous than the upper mantle

Skewed parton distributions and the scale dependence of the transverse size parameter

We discuss the scale dependence of a skewed parton distribution of the pion obtained from a generalized light-cone wave function overlap formula. Using a simple ansatz for the transverse momentum dependence of the light-cone wave function and restricting ourselves to the case of a zero skewedness parameter, the skewed parton distribution can be expressed through an ordinary parton distribution multiplied by an exponential function. Matching the generalized and ordinary DGLAP evolution equations of the skewed and ordinary parton distributions, respectively, we derive a constraint for the scale dependence of the transverse size parameter, which describes the width of the pion wave function in transverse momentum space. This constraint has implications for the Fock state probability and valence distribution. We apply our results to the pion form factor.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; version to appear in Phys. Rev. D; Refs. added, new discussion of results for pion form factor in view of new dat

Entwicklung und Stand von Bürgerenergiegesellschaften und Energiegenossenschaften in Deutschland

In the paper, the authors describe an estimation of the number and development of community energy companies and energy cooperatives in Germany. The analysis is based on two databases that are maintained by the authors. An increase in the number of new community energy companies in Germany can be observed until 2014. In 2014 at the latest, the number of newly founded energy cooperatives decreased. The decline could only partly be compensated by an increase in the number of limited partnerships with a limited liability company as general partner (GmbH & Co. KG). This shift from the cooperative model to the limited partnership model is linked to a shift in the predominant electricity generation technology. An increase in onshore wind energy can be observed while photovoltaics had to struggle with a shrinking market. Moreover, more bankruptcies and liquidations have been observed since 2009 for community energy companies and energy cooperatives. The existing community energy companies are mostly producing electricity while only a smaller group runs energy grids, especially for heat distribution (small district heating networks). The main focus of community energy companies and energy cooperatives lays on the production of energy through onshore wind and photovoltaics. Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia are the regional core areas of these companies

Scheme dependence of NLO corrections to exclusive processes

We apply the so-called conformal subtraction scheme to predict perturbatively exclusive processes beyond leading order. Taking into account evolution effects, we study the scheme dependence for the photon-to-pion transition form factor and the electromagnetic pion form factor at next-to-leading order for different pion distribution amplitudes. Relying on the conformally covariant operator product expansion and using the known higher order results for polarized deep inelastic scattering, we are able to predict perturbative corrections to the hard-scattering amplitude of the photon-to-pion transition form factor beyond next-to-leading order in the conformal scheme restricted to the conformal limit of the theory.Comment: RevTeX, 25 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables, minor changes, to be published in Phys. Rev.