Energy transitions are urgently needed. Increasingly it is widely acknowledged that these transitions must also be just transitions. Within just energy transitions, there is a growing shift towards community and individual empowerment and autonomy. Australia has seen increased interest in community renewable energy, although not yet on the scale seen elsewhere. Despite pioneering contributions on energy justice from geographical spatial perspectives, and the growing body of scholarship that speaks to the importance of place-based conditions in sustainability transitions literature, limited writing exist in terms of spatially nuancing energy justice concepts or on place-attachment and community developments, especially in the Australian context.
Viewing energy transitions through a geographic lens, drawing on the Geography of Sustainability Transitions and Just Energy Transitions scholarships, and incorporating place-attachment and energy justice concepts into consideration this research enables greater understandings of socio-spatial complexities involved in Australian energy transitions, energy decision-making and infrastructures. Place-attachment can provide a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities for just energy transitions at local scales. Hence, this exploratory study provides new empirical insights from the perspectives of Victorian community renewable energy groups to better understand the relationships between place-attachment, energy justice, and the role community play in sustainability transitions. Firstly, using qualitative newspaper document framing analysis to understand the Australian media discourse framing of energy justice and just energy transitions, followed by analysis findings verified by key community energy project actor interviews and their perceptions thereof (whether perceive as enabling or constraining). Subsequently, informing later case-study research (utilising in-depth interviews, participatory observations and walking interviews). This participatory approach aids in understanding the relationship place-attachment and energy justice play and what role community have in achieving that. This role of agency and socio-spatial insights gained offers stakeholders and actors policy-relevant suggestions for future energy decision-making processes beyond purely technical perspectives