Collaboration between cities/regions and energy cooperatives as vehicles to accelerate the energy transition

Introduction

Energy communities can help citizens and local authorities to invest in renewables and energy efficiency. Local governments are uniquely well-placed to support, participate, and invest in these projects, and to provide a positive planning and policy environment to help drive community energy.

Concerns About Commercialization

However, in various countries such as Belgium (BE) and the Netherlands (NL), there is a valid worry that the Community Energy Cooperative (CEC) and Renewable Energy Cooperative (REC) models will be commercialized, removing the necessity of the participation of the citizens. In Bulgaria, the directives for energy communities are not yet transposed.

Role of Energy Cooperatives

In TANDEMS, we argue that established Energy Cooperatives are the right ‘vehicles’ to ensure a just and accelerated transition, including citizens in every step.

Collaboration Model

Starting from the development of an open collaboration model, we will demonstrate how new and closer partnerships between cities/regions and energy cooperatives can lead to a region-wide supporting framework for community energy. This framework can be widely replicated in EU regions.

Project Overview

The TANDEMS project brings together three European regions from different starting blocks and speeds, different cultural backgrounds, and conditions but working towards the same goal: the empowerment and facilitation of citizens to participate in the clean energy transition. This is an important route towards solving the climate challenge we are all facing. The regions involved are:

1. The province of Antwerp in Flanders, Belgium
2. The region of Achterhoek in provincie Gelderland in the Netherlands
3. Two municipalities, Burgas and Gabrovo, in diverse regions in Bulgaria

Objectives and Goals

In TANDEMS, key partners will demonstrate the potential of a streamlined collaboration, in tandem, and ensure uptake in other regions in Europe.

TANDEMS aims to:

• Develop a wide variety of replicable models and trainings
• Demonstrate and trigger 67 community energy projects
• Support and/or create 23 citizen-led initiatives
• Trigger renewable energy source (RES) generation of 10.15 GWh/year with €7.9 million investments in sustainable energy by the end of the project in 2025.