2j7YOwO

07 FEATURE
Sidebar 5. Community Energy Initiatives Using Renewable Energy
Communities around the world are mobilising to address their energy needs with renewable energy. Community-based renewable
energy initiatives have manifested in different ways across regions. Selected examples include:
n The Belgian co-operative, Ecopower, was founded in 1992
and has financed several projects including 12 wind turbines,
323 solar PV installations, 3 hydropower installations and
1 co-generation plant. Its roughly 43,000 members, who
are shareholders and decision makers, invest in and own
the projects within their communities. The equivalent of
1.3% of all Belgian households are supplied with electricity
from Ecopower.
n Residents of Germany’s Jühnde village united in 2005 to
construct a biogas unit using the local corn harvest as
feedstock. The village’s 195 co-operative members decided
to recover waste heat and improve project efficiency, which
resulted in the construction of a district heat network. The
project created several permanent jobs in the village and
additional revenue for local farmers.
n In Scotland, the community of Fintry organised itself into
the Fintry Development Trust in 2007 and negotiated with a
developer to buy into a commercial wind farm planned near
the town. The community now receives profits by means of
partial ownership and sales to the electric grid.
n Bangladesh’s women-owned Coastal Electrification and
Women’s Development Cooperative (CEWDC) was formed
in 1999. Members of the co-operative manufacture and sell
solar lamps and charge controllers for solar home systems
(SHS), as well as batteries, and they provide energy to
the off-grid rural community of Char Montaz and four
surrounding islands. The local women are both providers
and users of the solar energy and earn a monthly wage for
assembling the SHS.
n In the United States, University Park Community Solar LLC,
made up of 30 community investors, began its operations
in 2010. It installed a 22 kW solar PV system on the roof of
a local church, which generates electricity that the church
purchases at a discounted rate. The system provides
additional revenue for community members through the
sale of solar renewable energy credits.
n The Brazilian co-operative CRELUZ was formed in 1966
and has grown to 87 full-time staff and 20,000 members. Its
members comprise families (with one member per family)
who play an active role in decision making regarding the
investment of the co-operative’s profits. CRELUZ invests
in and installs local mini-hydropower plants, providing
electricity to households that previously were off-grid. It
now operates 4,500 kilometres of power lines that reach
36 unicipalities and approximately 80,000 beneficiaries.
n The Energy for Development network has set up six
local solar PV mini-grid projects in Uganda, Kenya and
Cameroon, which supply electricity to off-grid villages. A
co-operative manages and maintains the local projects,
re-investing all profits into the project and the community.
The network also provides micro-financing to support the
local community's ability to purchase rechargeable battery
kits for lighting, radios, televisions, etc., and provides loans
for business development.
n SharedSolar provides electric infrastructure and service to
off-grid communities through a combination of renewable
energy, smart metering and storage management, and
has built micro-grids for communities in Mali (since 2010)
and Uganda (since 2011). Local energy co-operatives and
community-owned partnerships are established under a
pay-as-you-go model.
n Comet-ME, an Israeli-Palestinian non-governmental organisation,
provides renewable electricity to more than 1,600
off-grid Palestinian residents across 28 communities in the
West Bank. Electricity is generated by hybrid wind-solar
PV mini-grids. Comet-ME’s model is based on community
participation, ownership, training and capacity building
(technicians train local community members in basic
maintenance and diagnostics), and the organisation makes
a strong effort to procure materials from local sources.
Source: See endnote 22 for this chapter.
Ecopower
Comet-ME
138