2023-06-16 08:02:58
More than half of the municipalities in the demarcation of Girona have started the procedures to constitute one energy community, according to data from the Provincial Government of Girona. Specifically, 52.88% of the 221 municipalities in the demarcation have either started the processes to have a community or already have it in operation. The pioneer town in Girona was Cornellà del Terri (Pla de l’Estany), which put it into operation two years ago. On the other hand, in the demarcation there are four municipalities (Olot, Sant Joan de les Abadesses, Campdevànol and Mieres) whose energy community will be led by a citizen cooperative and not by the city council.
Local energy communities are a new production model they are looking for reduce fossil energy consumption i promote renewables. In addition, they work on zero kilometer energy generation and put the consumer at the center of the system. In this way, it is sought that the people who receive the energy participate actively and serve as an example with their consumption.
Each user has a mobile application where they can see in real time the energy generated by the community and how much is consumed. In addition, the energy manager also helps to modify consumption habits to adjust them to the hours when the most energy is produced and make the most of the solar panels.
In the case of the communities promoted by the councils, the councils are in charge of look for spaces to place photovoltaic panels and, in parallel, open a public competition so that families interested in receiving the energy that is produced can be part of the community and choose the amount of energy they would like to contract. From here one is stipulated quota anual that each neighbor will have to pay for installation, management and maintenance.
Four citizen initiatives
In four cases of the demarcation, however, the energy communities have left the councils and passed into the hands of associations and cooperatives. These are communities with their own legal entity that have one internal regulation. In this case, the plates can be installed on public or private land.
Mieres, pioneer in Girona
It is the case of Wednesday (Garrotxa), where they were pioneers in the demarcation by establishing themselves as a citizen cooperative to lead an energy community project. To push this project forward, the Mieres City Council organized a participatory process to decide what this model should look like. The acting mayor of Mieres, Enric Domènech, explains to the ACN that they raised the project with the limitation that “it was not supposed to be a municipal service”, but that the impulse of this community had to depend on the residents.
As a result of this process, eleven people volunteered to be the driving force behind the cooperative. The current president, Pere Morera, has explained that they have done “a series of administrative procedures” to form the cooperative and it is now established. At the moment, they are in the recruitment phase. Morera has assured that they already have 38 people interested in being part of it. However, the partners have a “lesser involvement” than those of the driving group.
At the same time, they have already started asking for subsidies from different administrations to get the money that will allow them to install photovoltaic panels. The first of the projects is expected to produce between 20 and 30 kW. “It will be very little”, Moradell assures, but it will allow to start before they don’t install any more plates. When they have obtained all the planned aid, they could produce between 100 and 120 kW at peak times.
Transfer of roofs for 35 years
These solar panels will be installed in municipal equipment that the council has ceded for 35 years. In December 2022, a popular consultation was held that unanimously approved (with 95% of the votes in favor) ceding roofs to the local energy cooperative for 35 years. In return, the council will receive 5% of the light produced. In the event that it is the same municipality that undertakes the installation of the plates, the city council will keep 20% of the light.
Domènech recalled that this cooperative allows “the empowerment of the neighborhood” when making decisions and assuming responsibilities in energy production. In this sense, the driving members are satisfied with the good response from the people since there are members who have signed up for the cooperative despite not being able to receive the energy produced because they are too far away. “People are aware and want to participate in decision-making”, says one of the promoters of the cooperative, Lluís González.
The majority, in the drafting phase
Of the 116 Girona municipalities that are in the process of having a community, there are ten that have already placed the plates but are waiting for the distribution company to activate them so that they can distribute the energy generated. On the other hand, more plates are being installed in 28 municipalities. The vast majority of projects, however, are drafting the planning report (34) or are awaiting execution of the work (32).
The Diputació de Girona offers technical and financial support to the councils that promote these local communities. The Deputy for the Environment of the Diputació de Girona in function, Lluís Amat, has highlighted that these initiatives “go beyond improving energy efficiency”, as they seek to be “a starting point to promote citizen collaboration projects“.
In this sense, the cooperative of Mieres assures that it is already studying to get involved in sustainable mobility from the installation of charging points for electric cars and it is also being informed about the community purchase of firewood. Projects that help joint decision-making.
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