Energy cooperatives are booming in Germany

The move away from conventional sources of energy in Germany is driven primarily by citizens. An increasing number of people work together by forming cooperatives to build wind farms and solar plants.

Cooperatives have experienced a revival in Germany. In 2006, eight new energy cooperatives were founded. In 2011 alone, this number was 167. And the German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation expects the figure to be even higher for 2012.

This kind of growth is vital if Germany wants to phase out its nuclear energy dependency by 2022. By promoting energy policy at the local level, communities all over Germany are profiting from renewable energy sources and the power of cooperatives.

A typical example of this growth is seen in the Horb Ecumenical Energy Cooperative in Stuttgart, which has implemented several solar power plants. Bernard Bok was a driving force in this task: before his retirement he was on the board of the local cooperative Volksbank, so he was interested in helping the cooperative.

For him there was no question, the development ...