LAWRENCE — As the world scales back dependence on fossil fuels, the concept of “energy communities” is linked — in the U.S. at least — to those that have a legacy of fossil fuels or economic dependence on them and need support in making the transition. A University of Kansas energy and environmental law expert has published a new article arguing that wider variation in how “energy communities” are conceived can be a strong point in allowing innovation in the clean energy transition.

Uma Outka, William R. Scott Law Professor at KU School of Law, has undertaken to evaluate how the concept of energy communities is evolving from a number of angles. First, she recently collaborated on a comparative project to document how energy communities have emerged in the European Union and the United States. That became a chapter in the comparative law volume, “Handbook of Energy Law in the Low-Carbon Transition.”

“There is not only one way to think about energy communities,” she said, “and our chapter showed that the concept has evolved very differently in the EU and the U.S.”

In light of relevant legal reforms under the Biden administration, Outka expanded and updated her assessment in an article, “Evolving Legal Conceptions of ‘Energy Communities,’” published in the University of Miami Law Review. There, she explores how the definition of energy communities not only differs around the globe but how it has continued to evolve, with a focus on very recent legal developments in the U.S. It examines legal and policy approaches to energy communities and transition under the Biden administration, provides examples of several different types of such communities in the United States, as well as locations like India, Brazil and South Africa, and envisions the communities in the future. She noted the differences could be a way to guide the legal frameworks in energy law and that narrow restrictions are likely to stifle innovation in helping communities transition from previous energy systems.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily helpful to the anchor the concept too firmly to one legal definition,” Outka said.

The Biden administration has placed an intense focus on helping those energy communities dependent on the waning coal industry achieve a successful economic transition, without leaving behind vulnerable communities, especially historically marginalized communities that are often the hardest hit by pollution and climate change, the author points out. Statutory reforms and funding streams have been dedicated to supporting such transitions, such as through the Inflation Reduction Act, have made resources available to support communities’ unique challenges, the analysis points out.

Policy and legal approaches that take into account the unique challenges each community faces are key to ensuring approaches are adopted that are not only effective, but flexible and give residents and communities self-determination in deciding how they will design their own energy futures.

The article also analyzes bills that have been introduced in Congress regarding energy transition, as well as at the state level, drawing on examples from New York, California and Indiana. In the latter, a law passed in 2023 called Act 390 provides incentives for communities that, on a voluntary basis, produce utility scale renewable energy projects. While the Indiana law and other such efforts are new and their ultimate effects still to be determined, they still provide an example of how evolving conceptions of energy communities are accruing legal meaning, Outka writes.

The European Union’s clean energy transition plan features energy communities conceptually and as legal entities, but other tangible examples of the growing legal conception exist outside of those two geographic locales. India, Brazil and South Africa have all implemented measures such as solar energy cooperatives and advanced energy communities that address unique challenges in rural settings as well as mini-grid approaches among neighborhoods.

The varying examples of how differing nations and governing bodies are conceiving energy communities illustrate how they may continue to form organically, with or without legal definitions, Outka writes. However, legal frameworks that do not rigidly define what such a community is or can be provide more flexibility for approaches that keep energy, justice and health at the forefront, while also supporting innovation, she argues. Ultimately, the piece points out there are numerous efforts to transition to renewable energy happening around the world and the growing legal footprint would be well-served to allow for continued evolution.

A third work now headed to press as part of an international volume focused specifically on energy communities will address implementation of the concept in the U.S. The three pieces build on Outka’s larger energy and environmental law research on energy justice, energy transitions at the community scale and her role as a member of the Energy Law Editorial Board for Law360, a widely read legal news periodical.

“Above all, my hope is that people do not view this goal of helping coal communities and frontline communities affected by energy industries as a fad but as essential going forward, so that we keep justice at the center of energy policy,” Outka said.