Guidelines on community-led heating and cooling

Supportive framework

Capacity Building

Capacity-building is the process of developing and strengthening the skills, abilities, processes and resources that energy communities need to operate, adapt, and thrive in the H&C market. Local, regional, national and EU governments need to support this development with specific programs (representation, knowledge sharing, shared services) that give energy communities the time and money to build up their capacity in order to support local citizens in the process of building up their own Community-led Heating and Cooling (CH&C) installation.

 

Representation

To make sure that our policy-makers keep empowering citizens at all levels, your energy community should be represented at the local, regional, national, and EU level.

For local representation you can do this yourself, by planning regular meetings with your municipality to discuss the H&C plans for your energy community.

For regional representation, feel free to find energy communities in neighbouring villages and cities, and have a common regional representation.

It would take too much of your time to have national and EU representation as well, so it is recommended to join a national and supranational federation of energy communities or cooperatives. Union Renovables in Spain, Energie Samen in the Netherlands, or DGRV in Germany are good examples of national federations. REScoop.eu is the EU-wide federation. Consider joining both to benefit from representation and cross-border information exchanges.

 

Knowledge Sharing

A crucial part of setting up your CH&C is to train people and develop the right skills for a H&C installation. This adds professionalisation to your service, and builds trust in your energy community.

Once again, many national and EU federations of energy cooperatives/communities organise info-sessions on the legal, technical, financial, and managerial aspects of energy communities. In turn, once you have acquired the knowledge, make sure to also share it with other energy communities: Keep in mind that for energy communities, sharing is caring. Cooperate instead of compete.

 

Shared Services

Next to advocacy on regulatory affairs and knowledge sharing, Community Heating and Cooling projects can work together on sharing services for the day to day operation. On a regional level energy communities work together to share services, which is done to become more efficient, and professionalise services such as technical support or financial audits. In the Netherlands, 9 district heating cooperatives set up a shared service cooperative which supports them in the development process and on community-building. In the future they will also help with billing, technical support, and financial audits and controls.

Once again, remember that you are not alone, and that cooperation is our strength.