Monica Pedreira Lanchas: ‘Energy communities are autonomous and self-governed; citizens decide how they are set up’
Gipuzkoa Provincial Government’s Green Transition Director explained the proliferation of energy communities in the province.
‘This probably won't come as a surprise, but even so I should point out that Gipuzkoa is a very energy dependent province’. That idea kicked off the talk by Mónica Pedreira Lanchas, the Director for the Energy Transition at Gipuzkoa Provincial Government. Building on that idea, she spoke about the steps of the energy transition in Gipuzkoa, mainly focusing on the setting up of independent energy communities based on renewable energy.
Towards a new energy model
The starting point was concerning. ‘In 2020, we were 98% dependent on foreign sources and we had hardly any renewable energy in the province’, Pedreira said. Then the change in strategy began. In fact, the new roadmap for the energy transition was finalised in October 2021. The key points of that transition were the change in energy model, shifting to a decentralised model where the energy sovereignty was in the hands of the users and not the large corporations.
Furthermore, the Ukraine war broke out in March 2023, which made energy more expensive. Gipuzkoa Provincial Government then decided to take a more active approach and seek to relieve the financial burden on households and, specifically, on the most vulnerable ones. The situation in Gipuzkoa was analysed and priorities were set for the transition. ‘We were clear that we had to democratise energy and that to do so, we had to mobilise the Provincial Government’s economic resources’, Pedreira explained. ‘We were aiming for local energy generation and which was 100% renewable in our province’.
Energy communities: citizen sovereignty
The concept of energy communities – the main theme of Pedreira’s talk – was therefore developed. They are partnerships or agreements between different stakeholders – usually neighbours or companies – who decide to take part in a decentralised energy model. A roof or infrastructure for the installation is necessary to set up a community. It is a self-consumption system, but users must be connected to the main power grid as they are supplied from there. Citizen can now be part of an energy community if they are within a 5-kilometre radius of the power generator.
Pedreira pointed out that energy communities are autonomous and self-governed. ‘The citizens who are part of them – not the public administrations – are the ones who decide’. Furthermore, the production is 100% renewable energy.
Thanks to these communities, energy dependency has dropped by 8% in Gipuzkoa in the last five years. Moreover, the participants have clearly seen savings in their electricity bills. On the other hand, other services can be set up with the energy communities, such as installing electricity charging for vehicles or even real-time monitoring and electric energy storage systems.
Legally, there are two possible models for these energy communities: the energy cooperative and the non-profit organisation (NPO). ‘Neither model is better than the other’, Pedreira explained. ‘What we have seen is that the different models reflect the socioeconomic reality of the different municipalities’. Cooperatives are legally more complex and require an initial capital injection. In turn, NPOs are less complex to set up and members simply pay a small monthly fee to belong to them. In both cases, the participants decide on the articles of association of their community, adapted to their realities and circumstances. In any event, legislation regulating the formation of these cooperatives and NPOs exists in the Basque Country.
Gipuzkoa Provincial Government helps the communities economically, along with providing bureaucratic and technical support. Local councils also play an important active role, often by means of a public domain concession, i.e., public roofs are made available to the communities to install solar panels, etc. The local council can also be part of the energy community, even though that is not compulsory.
‘The involvement of the province’s municipalities has been exceptional’, Pedreira pointed out. ‘There are already 67 municipalities taking part’. Bear in mind that there is a total of 88 municipalities in Gipuzkoa.
Another important point is how the shared self-consumption takes place, i.e., how the power produced is shared. In this case, the participants yet again decide how that takes place, and Pedreira stressed the importance that the chosen system can be adjusted over time. Some communities begin with 0.5 Kw per household or participating member, but that quota can later be adjusted, for example, according to the context in which it operates.
Photovoltaic is one of the most common energy sources. However, in reality energy communities can be associated with any renewable that exists: wind, geothermal or hydraulic power, for example.
The energy transition moves forward in Gipuzkoa
As of today, there are 82 energy communities in Gipuzkoa, 74 of which are citizen energy communities, involving 13,000 families, and there are also 8 energy communities in which 32 companies take part. The latter are aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises. ‘Clearly, this will never be a solution to decarbonise an energy-intensive industry nor any industry with high power consumption’, stressed Pedreira.
Pedreira gave an important example. The investment would be €100,000 for an energy community that uses the roof of a medium-sized Basque frontón court with 100 kw photovoltaic power, for around 200 families. Non-repayable grant schemes would cover around 75% of that sum. Furthermore, in the case of small municipalities with limited resources, the Provincial Government is in charge of the project, carries out the installation and the subsidy is 100%.
Pedreira ended by speaking about the Gipuzkoa Energy Transition Office, which provides free support for the projects and, among other aspects, is in charge of monitoring the energy communities when so requested. Thus, failures in the facilities can be detected within a maximum time lag of 30 minutes.
