Elektropionir

“We do not wait for all the conditions to be met and for the majority to start, but we think that a persistent group of pioneers can change things. Our goal is to demonstrate an ecologically and economically sustainable way of producing electricity, based on the cooperative principles.” Following this idea, Elektropionir aims to empower ordinary people to participate in the energy transition.

Despite having only 17 members, Elektropioinir has achieved significant milestones for the community energy movement in Serbia. These achievements are expected to pave the way for more community energy initiatives in Serbia.

Solarna Stara

Solarna Stara is Elektropionir’s inaugural generation project. It comprises the country’s first two cooperative power plants, each with a production capacity of 5kW, located on the roofs of local community buildings in the villages of Temska and Dojkinci, on Stara Planina mountain.

In recent years, this area has been threatened with ecological devastation due to the construction of mini-hydroelectric plants, which disrupted the local water supply. Elektropionir, together with the local communities of Dojkinac and Temska, and in cooperation with the city of Pirot, decided to show that the application of renewable energy sources can be sustainable and beneficial for both the community and the planet. In this project, Elektropionir provided 50% of the total investment, while they collected the rest through a crowdfunding with the active association of citizens who supported the project, which is a novelty in the country.

The city of Pirot is the owner of the roofs of the public buildings on which the panels are installed, while Elektropionir is the owner of the power plant and sells the electricity produced. The revenues will go to local communities for the development of local projects, as they choose.

Solarna berba

Elektropionir’s second generation project is an agrovoltaic power plant – the first one in the country – located in an organic farm in Gornja Bukovica, central Serbia. This installation, comprising 48 solar panels with a total capacity of 17.5 kWp, will allow the investigation of the combined production of renewable electricity and organic products in exactly the same location.

Solarni zmaj

Elektropionir’s third generation project will be two solar PV installations in a school – one will be for the school’s self-consumption, funded through a donation; while the other one, funded by the cooperative and crowd investment from parents of the pupils and the local community, will feed electricity to the grid and the revenues will go to Elektropionir and the citizens who participated in the crowd investment.