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The implementation of energy communities, which, through their use of renewable energy, are fighting climate change, is challenging. It requires local policies, technological availability, space and funds. Nevertheless it also requires one element, which drives it all and that is community readiness and willingness for collaboration. In this article we will dwell into the importance of collaboration in energy communities (EC’s) and what it looks like in the field.

Why collaborate?

Collaboration is, as pointed out in the title, an intangible element of project work. In this case it means that it is the action of working with someone to produce something. Although the action itself is not material, it is essential and fundamental to the effectiveness of a project. Thanks to collaborative efforts, EC’s are able to benefit from bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise to help them grow. Additionally a community, which has a strong teamwork, enhances its resilience against disruptions and can withstand challenges a lot better. Of course working in a form of a partnership also has a larger environmental, but also policy impact. Namely, it allows for a faster achievement of energy transition goals.

Collaboration in practice

In energy communities collaboration can have different forms. Members collaborate with each other, EC’s have strong partnerships with local governments or municipalities and clean energy consultants create well established systems of local networks. To exemplify, we would like to present our partner ZuidtrAnt. They had a particular form of a collaboration, which resulted in the building of a strong foundation for cooperative heat energy. In April of this year ZuidtrAnt-W collaborated with the municipality of Ranst. They investigated the possibility of extracting heat from their canal and recovering residual heat from companies in an industrial zone. You can read more about it here. Thanks to the cooperation with Ranst, ZuidtrAnt managed to push forward their concept of shared energy further. Residents, employees and other interested parties got the chance to invest in a heating network. This furthered the energy transition efforts.

Collaboration and knowledge exchange

One aspect, which collaboration is a particular catalyst of, is knowledge exchange. A strong sense of cooperation among EC members invites new and existing members to contribute ideas, resources and efforts towards common energy goals. That is because community collaborations create spaces for open communication and information sharing. Energy communities such as e.g. Otterbeek by Klimaan and City of Mechelen, have regular meetings. There, members or their representatives have a chance to share their fears, but also come up with solutions, which contribute to a collective pool of knowledge.

Our partners also exemplified this principle during our consortium meeting in Doetinchem, where they presented the concept of a ‘Learning Workshop’. The aim of the workshop was to ‘capture the experiences of those pilots, which are already at an advanced stage of collaboration between local authorities and energy communities’. Participants were asked to share their key events during their time as members of an energy community. They reviewed the events and then worked together to establish the most important events and most notable lessons they have learned from those events. On a small, controlled scale, the workshop presents how a collaborative effort or community is the best vessel for the advancement of sustainable energy practices. 

To sum up, collaboration within energy communities is crucial for promoting sustainability, driving innovation, reducing costs, and building resilience against energy-related challenges. It’s a cornerstone for achieving collective goals towards a more sustainable energy future.

During the TANDEMS third consortium meeting in Doetinchem, we had the pleasure of having an online inspiration session with Dmitris Tsekeris. Dmitris is an Energy Scenarios project manager at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe. He introduced our consortium to the ‘Paris Agreement Compatible Pathway for EU Climate Neutrality’ (PAC). More specifically he focused on its upcoming second version, which strongly intertwines with the activities of TANDEMS. In this article we give you an insight into the session through summary, reflections and analysis.

What is CAN?

In order to achieve complete transparency and understanding, we will first introduce the Climate Action Network and its main areas of activity. According to Mr Tsekeris, CAN is Europe‘s ‘leading NGO coalition fighting climate change’. It is a network of organisations, which work together to create joined lobbying campaigns to promote sustainable climate and energy policy development around Europe. It has over 180 organisations, which engage in information exchange, cooperation and coordinated development of international, national and regional climate strategies. For further information, you can visit their website here.

Introducing the PAC Scenario.

It is very important for all citizens to understand the PAC scenario and its repercussions on the energy framework of Europe. That is because the PAC scenario will have direct effects on our everyday lives. It foresees 65% greenhouse gas emission reduction by 2030 and a fully renewable  energy  system with zero emissions by  2040. Additionally, according to Tsekeris, PAC predicts an EU-wise coal phase out by 2030, fossil oil phase-out by 2040 and sale of internal combustion engine cars by 2035.

The PAC is a scenario, meaning it is a hypothetical prognosis of how Europe’s energy landscape should look like. Nevertheless it is a science-based vision and aligns with the Paris Agreement as well as the 1.5 degree global warming threshold. The first phase was developed between  2028 and 2020 and gives a first  look of what this agreement and the project itself would entice.

From 2021 until 2024 CAN together with other energy NGO’s are working on the second phase of the project PAC 2.0. This phase will present as separated scenarios for each country. This means that the PAC 2.0 will examine how much the scenario will cost in each country, what is the infrastructure needed to implement it and what will be the overall effect of PAC on each participating nation.

PAC 2.0 x TANDEMS

The second phase of PAC is relevant to TANDEMS, because it highlights the symbiotic relationship between the two projects.  On the one hand PAC gives TANDEMS the pathway along which the partners can plan their activities. On the other hand TANDEMS goals and achievements fit and align with the PAC objectives.

To give an example PAC 2.0 assumes the collection of national resources (such as financial situation, energy mix, energy spending, infrastructure potential etc) and the creation of an optimised pathway towards a 100% renewable energy with net zero emission by 2040 EU-wide. Similarly, in TANDEMS, each partner contributes to the analysis of a certain area, rates its potential for the introduction of renewable energy communities and implements projects. To exemplify, our partner Klimaan, has focused on the Otterbeek district, where they assessed the financial capacity of the neighbourhood and developed a sustainable strategy to install 729 solar panels on 70 homes. This way the infrastructure was altered on a regional scale and Otterbeek now not only has a higher mix of renewables, but also lower energy bills.

The PAC 2.0 project also expects to analyse energy infrastructure needs for every country and develop optimised pathway  scenarios, which ensure maximum flexibility, but still aim for climate neutrality. Although every TANDEMS partner who has a pilot project, is achieving those aims, the most prominent ones are Gabrovo and Burgas. Both are located in Bulgaria, which has a centralized national energy grid as well as complex policy restrictions for the intriduction of renewable energy communities. Together with EnEffect, the Centre for Energy Efficiency, both municipalities strive to pave the way for a more inviting pathway towards the clean energy transition.

What needs to happen next?

As mentioned before the PAC 2.0 scenario has a strong influence on the actions of the TANDEMS project. Our partners plan to  work or already are working on the actions that PAC assumes are necessary to reach climate neutrality. These include  triggering change, process improvement, electrification with renewable power production and decarbonization.

To exemplify, in order to trigger change or, more specifically, introduce societal or behavioural change to reduce energy demand, Klimaan, introduced the Klimaanwagens to their members. These ‘wagens’ are electric cars, shared among the members, which reduce the need for individual car ownership.  Another example, which fits into the decarbonization and technological advancement, is the Anaerobic Installation currently being built in Burgas. The installation will convert organic waste into energy through the use of advanced systems, engineered tunnels and specialized bacteria. You can read all about the installation here.

PAC 2.0 is a project, which provides organisations, members and like-minded guests from science and industry, in that TANDEMS, a practical guide to what steps to take to achieve climate neutrality by 2040. When published, it will provide a country specific, guided manual in five year intervals from 2020-2050 including social, economic, infrastructural, agricultural and transport related  activities for change. Most importantly PAC 2.0 highlights that reaching climate neutrality is a process, which requires regional, but collaborative approach. And that is exactly what TANDEMS also stands for.

The normalization of making wind energy a communal asset is a slow process in Europe due to social, financial and legislative factors. Thus, the ownership of onshore wind power is still mainly in the hands of big and commercialized investment companies. Due to the fact that this is a hindrance to a just energy transition, the article looks into this issue. It analyses current barricades and opportunities as well as looks into good practices, which can act as blueprints for communally owned wind energy.

(Wind) POWER to the PEOPLE!

Cooperative, citizen ownership of wind energy is a very important element of the democratization and decentralization of energy ownership. Energy communities (EC) have the capacity to distribute resources in a fair and just way. That means citizens are able to consume harvested power at beneficial and stable rate. They can also engage from the beginning in the decision making processes. Self-reliability also means that citizens become increasingly creative with their shared assets. In many cases EC’s become places of innovative activities, which can transpire outwards. Mark Bolinger in his paper on community wind power ownership schemes, additionally points out that when wind power is cooperatively, but also locally owned it has more direct benefits to the community and is more socially accepted.

So, whats going on?

According to Schreuer and Sammer in their review ‘Energy cooperatives and local ownership in the field of renewable energy technologies‘, there are examples of onshore wind energy cooperatives in Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany and also in other countries such as Belgium. Nevertheless despite having such good precendents, the amount of citizen-owned wind energy is still quite low. This is caused by multiple obstacles.

First of all, in many EU countries, such as Germany, wind turbines, and thus ownership of wind energy, is typically sold in a bidding process to those, who put in the best bid. Usually, due to access to funds, the winning bidders include institutional investors such as banks, insurance companies, investment funds etc. These institutions, unlike energy cooperatives, work on a commercial level with the intention of making a profit. Although less concerned with the just energy transition concept, these companies are able to offer local jobs, finance training schemes and invest in large wind farms rather than individual turbines. EC’s on the contrary, are not investing in wind turbines for profit, rather for a fair energy price and in most cases are not financially dependent solely on the cooperative. The result is that EC’s end up owning one or two wind turbines, while large corporations swallow the rest.

Another big problem is that onshore wind energy is still quite under exploited. Little public acceptance and legislative constraints are among many factors that cause this. Many citizens still fear the impact of wind turbines on the landscape and the discomfort of the noise. Additionally legislative frameworks define minimum distance of wind turbines from built-up areas, which, in many countries, significantly shrinks the available space.

Opportunities and good practice examples

Many efforts are put into counteracting the current wind power obstacles. Additionally energy transition agents put parallel efforts into finding alternatives. One of the recent solutions is to increase the investment in offshore wind turbines. Offshore wind farms do not have the issues of proximity to built-up regions and therefore engineers can erect more turbines. Additional benefits of this type of wind power is that there are much more wind resources (wind is much stronger) at high sea. This generates much more energy. One government, which is using this advantage is the Belgian government. They are pushing for and encouraging citizen participation in large offshore wind farms. In order to do that they engage renewable energy communities.

Two of TANDEMS partners, ZuidtrAnt and Klimaan are benefiting from this resolution. They participate in a Belgian cooperative social enterprise SeaCoop. SeaCoop is founded by 33 renewable citizen initiatives. It focuses on giving people control over the production and use of energy from the North Sea at an affordable price. More specifically the coopertive aims to bring wind electricity to households and SME’s via cooperative suppliers.

Cooperating on an international level

This decision of the Belgian government comes days before the Ostend Declaration. The declaration recognises the ‘importance of North Sea in the energy transition and that collaboration between the involved countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and the UK) will be instrumental in accelerating energy transition’. Basically the declaration calls for more cooperation between participating countries. Additionally a more integrated European energy market and more investment in research and innovation. The Ostend Declaration paired with Belgians government resolution to involve citizens in ownership of wind energy can be a breakthrough for introducing new models and frameworks on how communities can be more democratically involved in production, distribution and usage of renewable energy.

Wind power is a crucial source of renewable energy. Nevertheless communally owned and shared wind energy infrastructure still needs a lot of legislative and infrastructural changes. However, innovations, which the TANDEMS partners are participating in, is a step forward. Successful examples such as SeaCoop are great pilot projects. They, through experimentation, lay down architecture that others can build up on.

Change, especially in already economically and socially uncertain times, can make us feel fearful of the future. It is therefore understandable that the idea of energy transition, which steers away from the current status-quo, makes the public wonder about the security of their jobs, their status in the civic sphere, the well-being of their loved ones or their rights. This is why TANDEMS, along with other energy community focused projects, encourages a just energy transition, which ensures fairness and inclusivity. This article explores in detail how this goal can be achieved and what steps can be taken to maximize the positive opportunities of energy transition for all.

Status Quo

In the recent years EC‘s became a unique type of actor. They operate based on not for profit principles and democratic way of organising people. This does not mesh with the existing way of doing things, which focuses on commercial entities and maximisation of profits. Aditionally the current national frameworks built around energy communities and energy transition are, according to Josh Roberts, a policy expert in the European Federation of Energy Cooperatives, causing a lot of uncertainty towards these two concepts. That is because there is a lack of clear definition, financial models or social adaptation process. Many individuals, therefore, consider energy communities to be a new and uncertain future for the energy market.

Nonetheless, energy communities transform the concept of energy from a commodity to a basic need. They allow citizens to create a model, where they take control of the production of this basic needs, which, in turn, gives them economic freedom. This freedom is achieved through a process, where all stakeholders including citizens, governments, businesses and industry are engaged in a dialogue. It creates policies and framework in an egalitarian way, making energy communities an effective model for a just energy transition.

Just Energy Transition

A just energy transition focuses on ensuring that all groups in the society can benefit from the energy transition. It concentrates on reducing the possible costs of energy transition. At the same time it maximizes the possibilities for all members of the society to participate, leaving no one behind. Special focus is put on vulnerable or marginalised people. These social groups already have limited resources and will be mostly touched by energy market changes. A just energy transition includes, among other, providing appropriate subsidies and financial help to those who cannot invest, but want to be members of energy communities. Another example is providing socio-technical training opportunities for professional workers.

A great illustratory example is the membership policy of TANDEMS partner, Klimaan. Klimaan is an energy cooperative in the region of Mechelen, Belgium. On their website the cooperative ensures that ‘Everyone – regardless of background, level of education, financial situation, etc – must be able to participate in the much-needed transition to a local and renewable energy supply‘. Klimaan has a very low price of shares. Additionally the strength of one‘s voting right is not depended on the amount of shares bought. That means that voting rights are not dependend on each persons financial situation. Rather, their willingness to participate in a clean energy transition. This makes the functioning of the cooperative a very democratic and egalitarian process.

Towards inclusivity and participation

One way of achieving a just energy transition is through empowering citizen participation and involvement. Within the TANDEMS project, the work package, which is mostly focused on this is WP 4 named ‘Strengthening and supporting citizen initiatives‘ and led by Duneworks. In one of TANDEMS internal inspiration session, Jordan Young from Duneworks detailed ways in which energy justice can be achieved by basing his findings on Dunework’s other energy communities-focused project, Lightness. According to Jordan a fair transition can be achieved when the opportunities, barriers and conditions of all social groups are recognised. This should be followed by creating a strategy, where all people are given a chance to equally participate. In practice this means granting citizens access to information that will ease their understanding of what the energy transition can mean for them and what they require to meaningfully participate.

Good Practices

Establishing a step-by-step guideline to achieve a just energy transition is an ongoing, but a tricky process. Each country has their own social, economic and energy situation. Agents of energy transition want to take that uniqueness into consideration rather than forcing a one size fits all solution. This is why, under the current circumstances, a lot more focus is placed on sharing good practice stories. These, rather than giving instructions, provide inspiration for others.

One of this example is a TANDEMS partner, ZuidtrAnt. They illustrate the standards of a just energy transition for multiple reasons, including their overall involvement in the neighbourhoods. The energy cooperative works together with social welfare and social housing companies and participate in projects with social value such as repair cafes and renovation coaching process, financially supporting a citizens initiative aimed at energy efficiency or other. They also ensure that they scope of work is local and limited geographically. It increases resource density and thus ability to distribute opportunities more equally.

A just energy transition places the citizen in the forefront of clean energy directive. Agents of the energy transition, including municipalities, energy communities and citizens themselves, can build sustainable changes. They should, however, ensure that everyone is given a chance to fully understand the costs and benefits. They should also give opportunities to cultivate skills, confidence and capacities.

‘In the recent years Energy Communities (EC‘s) became a unique type of actor, which operates based on not for profit principles and democratic way of organising people. Due to the fact that this does not mesh with the existing way of doing things, which focuses on commercial entities and maximisation of profits, energy communities are considered to be a new and uncertain future for the energy market.’

Josh Roberts, Senior Policy Advisor at REScoop.eu

The reorganisation of the energy market involves legislative changes and the disruption of the current energy flow. Many countries still organise policies in a way that lacks a direct link between energy producers and consumers. Energy providers have, therefore, control over pricing. The restructuring of this system is strategic in providing citizens with stable energy prices. It also supports sustainable and renewable energy transition. What do energy communities need to become vehicles of this reorganisation? This article explores this concept by focusing on infrastructure, business models and energy flow.

The Middle Man

In the current energy market decentralized and distributed energy production and consumption is still often legislatively and municipally unsupported. Sharing of energy with through a middle man called energy provider causes a lack of direct link between energy consumers and producers. These providers buy energy at market price from current energy communities, but sell it at higher rates. As an energy consumer, you participate financially in an energy community, but through an energy provider. The only way of consumers to know where their energy comes from is thanks to the GOO (Guarantee of Origin). The GOO is an ‘EU guarantee that any given amount of power is produced at a particular power plant. It is a voluntary certification allowing consumers to choose a source of production. Typically the choice being between renewable and non-renewable electricity’.

Independence from the current energy market consists of producing and consuming your own energy without the involvement of energy providers, who influence the price. Consuming your own sustainable energy at a cost price decreases the cost of energy as a whole. It also decreases the risk of rising energy prices in the future. It can also increase the acceptance of wind and solar farms because of the direct benefits for local communities. 

Best practice example

In one of TANDEMS partner regions, Achterhoek (NL), this model is already in place for the municipalities (Agem Gemeentelijke Energy). This is an organisation, which started in 2017. It uses landfill gas and solar panels to supply energy to eight municipalities at a cost price. It also does not involve commercial parties. The Achterhoek municipalities are the first in the Netherlands to have introduced the ‘Self-delivery model’. This is where municipalities simply use the energy they generate. This is a unique model that other regions in the Netherlands and other EU regions can adapt and recreate.

Infrastructure

Access to appropriate infrastructure and technological advancement is another milestone in being able to administratively and legally consume your own energy. This access if often hindered by a lack of appropriate business models or financial support. Novel tools, which allow for the decentralization of energy production and consumption on a big scale, require economic commitment. This is unavailable for some energy communities, which are mainly made up of local citizens. This is why in TANDEMS we understand that sharing of new technological solutions along with lists of best practices is so crutial. Alongside creating a network of information exchange TANDEMS forms new business models and tests them on pilot sites, paving the way for normalization of independent energy production and consumption.

Independence from commercial market players requires appropriate infrastructure, which is already present in certain countries such as the Netherlands. Legal frameworks should give more freedom to the consumer, which is currently lacking in many EU countries. The objective is to make this model accessible to consumers and businesses. The processes/models developed in this TANDEMS will inspire replication in Belgium, Bulgaria (TANDEMS partners) and in the future other European states.

OurPower is an emerging energy cooperative in Austria operating a peer-to-peer marketplace for RES electricity generated by its members. OurPower handles the online matching services as well as the whole process of electricity supply and billing. We sat down with Hemma Beiser, a managing director and co-founder of OurPower for an interview.

Can you introduce yourself and OurPower?

My name is Hemma Bieser and I am the managing director and co-founder of OurPower Energy Cooperative, which is based in Vienna, Austria. We started in 2018 out of the urgency to actively involve citizens to shape the energy transition. We noticed that the current measures taken by governments, big corporations and companies were not enough. In fact we are convinced that energy transition is not only about inventing and introducing new technologies. It is a huge social transformation, so we need more people to participate in this process of social innovation.

How many members do you currently have and what does your membership procedure look like?

Currently we have over 800 members, who have different reasons and motivations to join the cooperative. There are three categories of members:

Everyone can join the OurPower Cooperative. The minimum amount is 100 Euro. We have established a simple and digital onboarding process on our website www.ourpower.coop. Since we are a European Coop, people from all over Europe can be part of our community.

We invest the money of our members mainly to develop the marketplace (in 3 phases) and new services, as well as for the growth of our community. The current investment sum is around 830.00 Euro. Our next funding goal is to reach the 900.000 Euro by the end of this year. So, we invite everybody to join us and to support our idea!

How do you keep such a large community connected?

That is a very interesting point. Initially we had a lot of plans to organise community events, but the Covid-19 pandemic radically changed our plans. So again we switched to digital means and between 2020 and 2021 we interacted with our community online. Actually in 2021 we organised a session about ‘Women in Energy Transition’. The goal was to bring women, who are shaping the energy transition, on stage. In 2022 we had a series of dialogues about the energy market, the energy prices and their impact on our community.

We have learned that with online events we can reach much more people in and outside of Austria, so we will continue to organise them in addition to our quarterly on-site events in Vienna and in the Austrian regions.

Can you introduce us to your business/ collaboration model?

Our core business model is operating a peer to peer marketplace, which has been online since 2019 and is continuously improved with new services and features. On our market place producers of renewable energy, such as solar, wind or hydro power, can sell their electricity directly to family, friends and others. It is therefore a peer to peer market place, which is easy to use, but also comfortable for producers as well as customers who know directly where their electricity comes from.

What are or were your biggest challenges?

When we first started OurPower, Austrian citizens simply did not know about the concept of energy sharing and energy communities, meaning we had to explain these ideas to everyone. This changed in 2021 when Austria introduced the Erneuerbaren Ausbau Gesetz*. Now many more people understand this concept and organise energy community pilot projects. Second biggest challenge was of course the energy crisis.

*Renewable Energy Expansion Act, which aims to convert the country’s electricity supply to 100 percent electricity from renewable energy sources.

How did the energy crisis affect you?

As mentioned before our business model was aimed to make our marketplace attractive for both customers and producers, because we offered both sides a really fair price. With the energy crisis, the prices went higher and our producers also expected higher prices for their energy. However, if the producers raise their prices, the cost of kWh for customer is also bigger.

We therefore organised an online dialogue with both sides and asked them a simple question: According to your gut feeling, what is a fair price for electricity? A price which both the community can afford and which would keep the producers satisfied? Through online discussions we managed to provide and keep a really stable price, which was much lower thant the average energy market.

What does ‘just energy transition’ mean for you?

In OurPower we think that the energy transition is a really big transformation for the whole society. We think that everyone should be involved and everyone should profit. In order to become independent from gas and oil, we should focus on producing regional energy, which can be sold locally, so everyone can participate.

To illustrate, I would like to give you an example of a new product we are currently working on, the Sonnenweide. It is based on crowd investment in large PV powerplants located outside of Vienna. This means that if you are a member of OurPower, but you live in the city apartment and have no access to a rooftop for PV panels installation, you can still invest in a PV module, which is located on a large solar field owned by the community. Anyone can invest both large, but also smaller amounts. For us this is energy justice, where no matter your circumstances, you can still participate in the energy transition.

What are the next steps for your community?

Of course the next big step is the development of Sonnenweide. However, we also want to grow our marketplace, have more production of energy and of course more members. With more people we have a chance to have a bigger impact. That is why we plan to organise more dialogues, knowledge exchanges, communication and information sessions. We are also setting up new energy community projects and are actually launching three international projects funded by Horizon 2020. International work is very important for us, because we increase our impact and grow networks outside of Austria.