Community-led Heating and Cooling (CH&C)

Introduction

Why should I choose an energy community for heating and cooling?

 

Energy communities are a governance structure that bring citizens together to enable collective energy actions that support the clean energy transition. They democratise the transition, contribute to increasing public acceptance of renewable energy projects, and make it easier to attract private investments in the clean energy transition. Energy communities can be an effective means of re-structuring our energy systems, by empowering citizens to drive the energy transition locally and directly benefit from better energy efficiency, lower bills, reduced energy poverty, and more local green job opportunities.

During the recent energy crisis, the wholesale price of gas in Europe increased by a factor of x10 in two years. This sharp increase demonstrates the policy failure of relying on fossil fuel heating supplies owned by a handful of market actors. To pave the way for a fair and sustainable future, it is imperative that we break the detrimental connection between public funding, fossil fuels, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a select few. Energy communities, as the only organisational concept that truly puts citizens at the centre of the transition, have the capacity to change our energy system.

 

Who can join an energy community?

✅ Citizens, Municipalities, SMEs.

❌ Big companies, corporations, or their controlled entities.

 

Drivers & Barriers:

Drivers:

1) Not-for-Profit: Energy communities must have a social or environmental aim, rather than profit maximisation. While a CH&C project can have revenues – that are often reinvested in the local community – it can never have profits. This allows them to carry out long-term planning, protect citizens from abusive prices, and keep the local revenues at the local level.

In Community-led Heating and Cooling (CH&C), collective improvement is preferred over individual enrichment.

2) Democratic ownership: Community-led Heating and Cooling (CH&C) systems are directly owned by citizens, oftentimes together with municipalities and SMEs. Decision-making is therefore bottom-up. Through the one-person-one-vote principle the citizens, municipality, and SMEs all decide on what to do with the project, including its revenues or expansions. This also increases social acceptance of H&C works, and improves the quality of the service provided.

3) Local value & Transparency: In order to be not-for-profit and democratic, energy communities and their H&C projects must be 100% transparent on their heating and cooling prices and their management, as they must be held accountable to the citizens.

Energy communities are also local by nature, they therefore keep the benefits at the local level, such as investing in new infrastructure, or decreasing the bills of their members. They also offer solutions best adapted to the local needs, as citizens know best what changes are needed in their area.

Barriers:

1) Lack of support: When starting an energy community, you could be affected by a lack of informational or administrative support, it can therefore take several months to start your project. Including the municipality as a member from the start can alleviate some of these pressures. Furthermore, joining your national federation of energy cooperatives/communities can also be a source of information and help.

2) Lack of imagination: Many people struggle to think that citizens and municipalities are able to be effective market actors, and tend to delegate the transition work to a corporation. Keep in mind that in building your H&C project, you might encounter doubts. Remind people that these citizen-led CH&C projects exist across the EU, are long-lived as they are owned by local citizens, and it is exceptionally rare that they go bankrupt. Citizen-led multi-partner networks like energy communities remain the best solution to deliver a just transition.

3) Lack of capital: H&C projects are expensive, and you may encounter difficulties in finding private and public financing. To overcome this, work closely with your municipality, or One-Stop-Shop to find public funding opportunities, and develop a strong business plan to access private financing. A study from the Occitanie Regional Energy and Climate Agency (AREC Occitanie) looked into the economic impact of local and citizen renewable energy projects, and found that for each €1 of public subsidy invested, €50 of economic benefits are generated for the territory. Furthermore, research in France and Germany shows that locally controlled and financed renewable projects deliver 2 to 8 times more return to the local economy than projects built by external developers.