Minoan Energy Community

Minoan Energy Community (MEC) was founded in October 2019 in the small town of Arkalochori, Crete, Greece, from 38 founding members. Today it is the largest energy community in Greece, with 1650 members, among which 13 Municipalities, the Regional Authority of Crete, the Holy Metropolis of Arkalochori, Kasteli and Viannos, Municipal Corporations for Irrigation and Water Supply, commercial and agricultural cooperatives and, of course, first and above all, individuals.

MEC aims to play a regulatory and leading role in how the energy transition is implemented in Crete. The energy transition can be the pillar for just, rational and sustainable economic and social development for all Cretans, by engaging them in the process and, in this way, maximising the anticipated benefits for local communities. In practice, MEC focuses on all technologies that harness Crete’s available major Renewable Energy Sources (RES) potential: photovoltaics and solar thermal collectors for electricity and heat production, wind parks and small wind turbines, combined heat and power plants operating with biomass and district heating, open-loop geo-exchange plants, and energy-saving passive and active measures in buildings and other facilities.

The role of the community is the following:

• it is a provider of knowledge, awareness and expertise for the Cretan society
• it is a stimulator, which activates local citizens and authorities to be involved in the energy transition process in Crete
• MEC also has undertaken a major role as a negotiator or a mediator, between the local community and the Ministry of Environment and Energy, struggling against the interests of the large size companies, for a fair and truly supportive legal framework
• MEC is the designer, the developer and the operator of the new projects, on behalf of its members
• MEC is an aggregator, representing all its members in the implementation of projects and in the afore described activities.

MEC’s members participate as the final beneficiaries in the implemented projects, by undertaken the amount they wish for their participation in them. They are also more than welcome to participate in the community’s scientific team and contribute to its activities.

A portion of the energy produced by the Community is allocated to vulnerable social groups. To date, 50 low-income families, including earthquake victims, have had their electricity needs covered free of charge, with the corresponding cost undertaken by the Regional Authority of Crete and the Community.

In the next 3-5 years, MEC aims to implement the first large size wind park, more than 10 MW of photovoltaics, energy saving projects for municipal facilities and the first pilot cogeneration plants. A major target is also the exploitation of the abundant biomass resources in Crete for the heating of settlements through district heating networks and cogeneration plants. The first district heating plants, powered by biogas and solid biomass from olive trees pruning, are going to be implemented in the frame of the Horizon 2020 project “Crete Valley”, which started in December 2023.

For its overall action, MEC was awarded with the “Local Energy Action” award in the European Union Sustainable Energy Week 2022 (EUSEW 2022). MEC has been also promoted as a success story and good-practice example by the Greenpeace and the European Commission’s Secretariat on the “Clean Energy for EU Islands” Initiative.