Private Law for Small-ScaleEnergy Transition : Kleinvieh macht auch Mist

This inaugural lecture by Björn Hoops shows how private law hinders the energy transition by disadvantaging small-scale energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Small-scale projects are at the heart of the energy transition. Millions of businesses and households insulate buildings, put solar panels on roofs, and install heat pumps in countless small projects. Some people form energy communities to generate, consume and sell energy together at a small scale. This small-scale energy transition is crucial because citizen involvement mobilizes new money for the energy transition and increases the acceptance of renewable energy. Energy communities can revitalize local communities and reduce energy poverty. However, private law disadvantages and hampers small-scale projects. In small-scale projects businesses and households often do not own both the new installation and the land on which it is put – this causes additional formalities and costs under private law. Legal services are more expensive and insufficiently accessible for small-scale projects. Private law is stricter in the contexts where small-scale projects operate, for example residential areas. In many legal fields, such as consumer protection, private law indiscriminately imposes the same duties on small-scale projects as on large-scale ones. Finally, as small-scale projects are less profitable, legal practitioners do not know enough about legal concepts that are important to them. There are ways to remove or circumvent these legal obstacles, for example through cheaper standardized agreements fit for small-scale projects. Changes to the law will be essential anyway. However, for the small-scale energy transition to be a success, politicians must also be willing to take up these technical private-law obstacles.