In this report, we investigate the issue of silo thinking in the development of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) as testified by stakeholders and propose recommendations to overcome silo thinking to achieve better collaboration between and within stakeholder groups. Involving all relevant stakeholders is argued to be essential to effectively reach PEDs and to include vulnerable as well as often overlooked groups in the process (Sareen et al., 2022). However, silo thinking can prevent or hinder the collaboration between stakeholder groups and within a stakeholder group. Thus, we identify silo thinking and best practices to overcome them, from stakeholder interviews conducted as part of a separate report (Derkenbaeva et al., 2022). The analysis focuses on three types of silo thinking – institutional silos, silos of representation, and administrative silos – and how to overcome them. In addition to the best practices suggested by stakeholders, additional perspectives to overcome silo thinking are proposed by the authors of this report.
In interviews with stakeholders from Amsterdam, the Canary Islands, and Lisbon metropolitan area, the following issues of silo thinking are identified:
▪ Institutional silos between citizens, who want to consume renewable, affordable, and community-based energy, and large companies, who are concerned with efficiency and profit
▪ Silo of representation of citizens about the impossibility for businesses to come out of their profit-driven practices
▪ Silo of representation about citizens’ knowledge and willingness to participate in PEDs projects that make citizens feel less empowered to collaborate as an equal partner with the government or large businesses
▪ Administrative silos that hinder the government’s financial support of cross sectoral energy transition efforts such as housing retrofit projects
To overcome the identified silos, we recommend:
▪ Structural change by the national government providing a legal framework and incentives for local government and companies to engage more with citizens and small businesses during the development of PEDs
▪ The use of intermediary organizations that can facilitate communication and collaboration between government sectors and between stakeholders
▪ Intergroup communication that allows citizens and small businesses to acquire more information and voice their demands, breaking from misrecognition and exclusion from such discussion as the development of PEDs
