Community energy: A real option to empower local economies

• by OEGA
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For a month now, workers of the Observatorio Eólico de Galicia (Galician Wind Observatory), together with technical experts of the European project EC4RURAL have been visiting small towns in rural areas of Galicia and meeting with local authorities and representatives of civil society for the purpose of driving the participatory process towards creating energy communities. In these first meetings, the discussion revolved around several issues. First of all, the local energy situation was assessed, highlighting the electricity expense in each case. Secondly, the alternatives for establishing a distributed generation model, i.e., one where electricity is produced in the same place where it is consumed, were considered. This narrative brought into the debate the existence of renewable resources in every town, the availability of the technology required to exploit those resources, and the need to build a community where the local government, the local population, and the small and medium-sized companies share a set of common values that may inspire collective action towards the production of energy at the local level. Finally, the first glimpse of what it means to be an energy community was offered.

So far, a Energy Policy Council—a large discussion group on the local energy situation—was set up for each of the towns visited (Outes, Moeche, Vedra, Silleda and Vilasantar), despite differences in the development of local community initiatives. Local governments, citizens, social organizations working in different fields, and small and medium-sized companies participated in all meetings. Attendance was high, and many interesting questions were posed and creative reflections shared.

The following steps should lead to the creation of the steering groups, called Core Groups, before August 2024. These groups will be responsible for defining the business model for each of the rural energy communities that are meant to be built and developed in 22 rural Galician towns.