Good practice:

Firewood district heating project in Sassenage

The city of Sassenage, undertook the construction of two fire wood heating networks to supply six communal buildings with renewable heat. The elected representatives of Sassenage were also determined to involve the citizens in the governance and financing of the project. In order to meet their goals, they took the model used in Lucinges and adapted it to the needs of their municipality.
ForestEner was selected for the design, implementation and operation of the district heating network as well as the financing of the project. The municipality provided the facilities for the firewood DH plant for 20 year period and the local community invested through their savings.
In order to involve the citizens, the municipality requested the involvement of Énergie Partagée and Énerg'Y Citoyennes, two structures specialized in citizen financing. Énerg'Y Citoyennes intervened at the local level to help raise funds from local residents; Énergie Partagée participated in the financing of the project and advanced funds while waiting for the subsidy from ADEME "Fonds chaleur" and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region subsidy. In total, nearly 360 000€ of citizen funds were mobilized.
The governance of the project is shared between the municipality of Sassanges and their citizens through Énerg'Y Citoyennes and Énergie Partagée (who sit on the management board of ForestEner's management board).

Toral investment of 967 300€ (subsidies from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and ADEME heat fund)
Energie Partagée's citizen fund Expertise in the legal and financial aspects of the project
Citizens investment of nearly 360 000€ and their involvement

Creation of two district heating networks with a yearly production of 1,760 MWh
Short Circuit wood supply for the operation of boiler rooms

Complexity of the legal and financial set-up
Cost and profitability of a wood energy heating network project
Legal commitment of the municipality in a heat supply contract for a period of 20 years

This model can be replicated in any municipality and adapted to its needs, as long as the buildings heated are only public buildings (no third party sales). Theis project is already a replication example inspired by a project developed in Lucinges in 2018 and replicated, taking into account local specificities (particularly the nature of the contract between the municipality and the project owner).