To reach the unusual suspects we have to design different ways of participation.

For this episode, we have met Alba del Campo. Alba is a Spanish journalist and activist fighting for more energy democracy. She is also advisor to the local authority of Cadiz since 4 years. A new local government was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019. Since then, the city opened the energy politics to its citizens. This was a first radical step. And there are many more to come. Alba explains why and how they managed to make affordable and sustainable energy such a key topic. And to which extent did the fact that Cadiz also hosts Electrica de Cadiz, Spain’s biggest local energy company, have an impact on this new energy policy culture?

>> Read more about Cadiz in this article.

This episode of “City Stories” is brought to you by the EU project mPower. mPower explores how cities and citizens can manage the energy transition together – in a fair, clean and democratic way. Participation can happen at various stages: from involving citizens, local NGOs or businesses in the policy design to any stage of the energy value chain: for example as shareholders or even prosumers. The mPower project gets funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme.