Guidelines on community-led heating and cooling

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Housing organisations

Housing organisations can be important stakeholders in the development of Community-led Heating and Cooling (CH&C). Like municipalities, they often own large buildings in the area that needs to be connected to renewable heating and cooling. Therefore, they are important partners in the development of a district heating and cooling plan. For them, it is also an effective way to retrofit their housing portfolio (as many energy communities also do Citizen-Led Renovations).

In many cases a Community-led district heating and cooling network is a real benefit for social housing organisations, and not only from a reduced bills perspective. If the houses would need to be completely insulated with separate heat pumps, it would cost the housing association much more than opting for a collective approach by an energy community. It is therefore advised to make a Memorandum of Understanding with a social organisation, setting out how they will be involved in the project. This also encourages community-building at a local scale. It is however important to always remember that citizens must be at the centre of decision-making.

 

Example

The Danish case of the Avedore Green City brought together 9 partners to modernise Avedore into a sustainable city, given their need for building renovations and the installation of renewable H&C. The project included public housing organisations, the municipality, and the local heating cooperative, which meant that citizens had a direct say over how to organise their neighbourhood’s transition. The Avedore Green City’s two original projects have today grown to 9 projects (with more on the way), and invested over €60 million in citizen-led renovation projects, supply of H&C, mobility solutions, and biodiversity restoration. Avedore is an example of how one activity by an energy community can multiply into many others when it has a cooperative governance with a solid business-model.

 

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