Dirk Vansintjan is the President of the European federation of citizen energy cooperatives, REScoop.eu.

As a student (1977-1982), Dirk Vansintjan was active in the progressive student movement, the ecological movement, the anti-nuclear power movement and the peace movement in Flanders/Belgium.

He was involved in founding the Green Party in Flanders (1977-1985) and has been a member of the council of the municipality Rotselaar (BE) for 12 years.

He co-founded the co-housing project in the watermill of Rotselaar (9 dwellings, 70 kW hydropower) and was active in TSAP, an NGO focused on co-housing, renewable energy and monuments (1985-2000) and Molenforum Vlaanderen, an umbrella organisation for the preservation of old wind- and watermills and the profession of miller.

He co-founded the citizen energy  cooperative Ecopower (in 1991) and the Organisatie voor Duurzame Energie Vlaanderen, ODE-Vlaanderen, (in 1996), the sectorial organisation for renewable energy in Flanders.

He also co-founded and was vice-president of REScoop.be (2010-2020) and is president of REScoop.eu (since the foundation in 2013), the federation of citizen energy cooperatives in Europe.

Ecopower now has almost 70 000 members and supplies 1.7% of Flemish households with its own green electricity. Dirk is a board member.

REScoop.eu is now a sector member of Cooperatives Europe, the European branch of the International Cooperative Alliance, ICA. Dirk Vansintjan is a board member.