Connecting with European energy communities
Last week Energy4All were in Brussels for the final ‘ACCE’ conference: ACCE is a European Union LIFE Programme funded project, creating simple and effective financial tools for energy communities.
The ACCE project focused on creating and developing Community Energy Financing Schemes, or ‘CEFS’, in different countries with varying levels of existing support. In the Netherlands that took the form of a strategic approach working with the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs and ethical banks: energy federation Energie Samen manage, monitor and facilitate a fund to support energy efficiency projects. This has built trust between the different parties, and unlocked capital for smaller energy projects.
In Croatia, which doesn’t have the same organisational structures in place for community energy, their CEFS scheme has focused on reducing cost for end users rather than securing financing. The Green Energy Co-operative (ZEZ) run a collective procurement programme for domestic and small business rooftop solar installations, offering participants up to a 20% discount on solar PV panels with fixed installation costs.
Those are just two examples of the myriad of different projects we heard from – including the UK’s own Westmill Solar Farm which received the first-ever cross-border co-operative investment in Europe as part of RESCoop MECISE.
Energy4All have been a Cooperation Partner on the ACCE project. Because the UK are no longer part of the European Union, not all discussions about shared funding and resourcing apply to us. That said, Energy4All still believe it is vital to engage with community energy in Europe. The Energy4All model funds community renewable energy projects primarily through community shares, with loans from other co-ops where needed. But this is not the only way of operating and community energy is evolving differently in each country: sometimes closely with local authorities, sometimes independently, sometimes with reliance on loans and external finance, sometimes wholly citizen funded.
We were impressed to learn that Energie Partagée in France have raised €100 million in citizen finance to lever €2 billion of investments in community renewables, often in partnership with councils. By speaking with other community energy groups in Europe we can hear these stories and bring ideas back home. As co-operatives we are committed to shared learning, and that extends beyond borders.
Mark Luntley, non-executive Director at Energy4All, was elected this year as Chair of RESCoop.eu – the European Federation of Energy Communities. He said ‘One of REScoop's real strengths is it shares and celebrates great practices, so when a bureaucrat says "that project can't work" we can show them lots of different examples to prove them wrong.’. The ACCE project, supported by RESCoop.eu, has helped to demonstrate that and we hope to see similar projects supported.
You can watch a case study video of more CEFS projects here.