Guidelines on community-led heating and cooling

Municipalities

The role of municipalities is crucial for the development of Community Heating and Cooling (CH&C) for many reasons: The scale of H&C decarbonisation, to help with administrative barriers, to offer their buildings as consumers and/or producers of renewable thermal energy for the energy community, among many others. The municipality can take many different roles in the development and exploitation of the H&C project. In the first place the municipality is the authority that is responsible for the local plans and permits, and therefore it is adviseable to develop your energy community’s H&C decarbonisation plan in close collaboration with them. Such collaboration can range from membership to the energy community, to a less involved participation through a Memorandum of Understanding and other cooperation agreements between your energy community and your local municipality.

For the municipality, CH&C is attractive as it ensures social acceptance, an improved relationship with the local citizens, as well as more information and say about the local projects.

If you want to learn more about the relationship between municipalities and energy communities please read the Community Energy Municipal Guide. At any rate, it is good to keep in mind that municipalities and energy communities are natural allies in the energy transition.

Municipality as a customer

Next to being a governmental authority, a municipality can be an important consumer and/or producer of renewable heating and cooling too. A municipality often owns various buildings, such as schools, hospitals, municipal offices, and other types of public services. In the early stages of CH&C, municipalities can be the first customers to bolster your business-plan, and an important partner to supply heating and cooling to.

The energy cooperative Beauvent in Ostend (Belgium) had the municipality as one of their first H&C customers. They built a 9km district heating network that now supplies citizen-owned heat to the municipality, 500 citizens, 25 SMEs and 2 hospitals.

Municipality as a member

The municipality also has the possibility to become a member of your energy community, and be more involved in the projects.

In Denmark for example, representatives from the municipalities sometimes sit on the board of directors of the energy community, participating in the development of the district heating network. In Hvidovre, one or two representatives from the municipality sit in the board of directors, since the district heating cooperative has municipal guaranteed loans. The participation in the board of directors enables the municipality to also have influence over the day-to-day operation, and the long-term strategic planning. It is important to note the legal principle of autonomy, where the municipality cannot control the energy community, as it must be governed through the one-person-one-vote principle to ensure democratic decision-making.

Does your energy community collaborate with a municipality for their H&C, and you would like to see it in these Digital Guidelines? Send an email to info@energycommunityplatform.eu.