Table 1.

Overview of cases

	JENA (GER)	MINNEAPOLIS (US)	RIDING SUNBEAM (UK)	BERLIN (GER)	KALMAR (SWE)
The case	Acquisition of shares in the municipal energy company by a citizen’s cooperative	Minneapolis energy options campaign, an initiative to remunicipalize electricity services	Development of a prototype of solar power traction for trains to pave the way for community and commuter co-owned tracton power supply assets	Energietisch, a civil society initiative wrote a law proposal suggesting the creation of a publicly owned and direct democratically controlled grid operator and public energy supplier	Joint launch and operation of solar parks in Kalmar by Kalmar Energi and a consortium of businesses, citizens, and public entities
Original goal of initiators	Promote a decentralised, affordable, environmentally and climate-friendly energy supply based on 100% renewable energy sources	A public option and local control could accelerate the renewable transition and make it accessible to all, benefit the local economy, and lower prices	Research and development: can we provide power traction for trains using solar energy?	Act against energy poverty and reach 100% regional renewables, ability for universal participation of residents	Not explicit
Initiators	Key players in the local semi-private utilities and from the municipality	Local civil society groups with some facilitation from a city council member	10:10 Climate Action (now We Are Possible) and Community Energy South	A coalition of 56 civil society groups	Kalmar Energi (the local public energy company)
Participants	Citizen-owned cooperative, municipal energy company, city council	Local civil society groups, city council and the privately owned utilities, along with a resident’s advisory council	Public funding institutions, not-for-profit parent companies, local universitities, Network Rail	56 local civil society groups, local political parties and ministries, later the new public utility (with advisory council) and public grid operator	Municipality, the publicly-owned energy provider, the Kalmarsund Sol community energy association representing participating inhabitants, and local businesses
Outcome	The cooperative acquired 2% of the public utility; eventually, the cooperative decided to distribute dividends and was blocked by the council as it tried to acquire more shares. Investments in renewables stalled.	City council refused to put remunicipalization on the ballot; the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) between the city and its utilities as an attempt at long-term collaborate governance emerged.	Collaboration until roll out. ‘First Light’ demonstrator on the Wessex Route at Aldershot in 2019 was the world’s first case of solar power directly powering commercial trains; route to market blocked by difficulties to scale	The draft was presented for vote in a referendum, missed the quorum by 20.000 vote. Eventually, electric grid municipalization and public utility emerged, but with limited democratic/social vision and market power.	Sweden’s biggest solar park as of 2016; Kalmar Energi has become the national expert for community energy projects
Data	4 interviews with 8 Interviewees, 41 documents, 1 observation	75 interviews, document analysis, 6 months+ participant observation	21 interviews, 15 documents, 8 observations, - surveys	45 interviews, document analysis, 6 months+ participant observation	5 interviews, 20+ documents