What place for participatory renewable energy projects in the energy sector? Between instituting margin and legitimizing appendage?[Quelle place pour les projets d'énergies renouvelables participatifs dans le secteur de l'énergie ? Entre marge instituante et appendice de légitimation]

In the face of climate and ecological crises, the energy transition through renewable energy (RE) is one of the transformative levers driving organizational and institutional reconfigurations in the energy sector. From a meso-economic regulatory perspective, this article examines the capacity of participatory RE to act as "institutionalizing margins" via a "citizen-led energy transition", in response to contemporary ecological and democratic issues. Based on a qualitative survey and statistical analysis, we show how participatory RE, despite significant constraints, sketches out an alternative mode of regulation at the margins. Through their critical function and experimentation, this institutionalizing margin benefits from partial institutional recognition, prompting certain established energy players to position themselves in relation to them via co-development projects. Theoretically, the article explores the notions of mesocritical space and institutionalizing margin to grasp transformations at the margins of centralized, extractivist energy regulation.