Energy communities are slowly popping up in Extremadura, helping to spread energy self-consumption among its citizens.
AGENEX, together with the Badajoz Provincial Council and the Cáceres Provincial Council, organized on the 6th and 7th of June respectively, two events on "Energy Communities in Municipalities of Extremadura” that have contributed to disseminate the social, economic and environmental advantages of this innovative energy model.
Event in Badajoz, 6th of June.
The dissemination event in Badajoz was held on July 6 at “El Hospital” and was aimed at local entities and citizen groups interested in community energy projects, such as energy recovery from waste, electricity purchase, energy generation and shared marketing of green electricity, among other related services.
The event provided useful information on the different legal, technical and regulatory aspects needed for the creation and development of new energy communities in the region. Additionally, some regional cases were presented, such as the EnVerde citizen cooperative and the Garciaz Energy Community, together with other success stories in other Spanish regions, such as Torreblanca EC and San Juan del Puerto EC (both in Andalusia), Lasierra EC (Basque Country) and Esparza de Galar EC (Navarre).
The Spanish Association of Energy Agencies (Eneragen) also participated in the event, presenting the current situation of Energy Community projects at national level.
Event in Cáceres, 7th of June.
The Cáceres Provincial Council Vice President, Mr Alfonso Beltrán, and the Director at AGENEX, Mr Cosme Segador, were in charge of opening the event in Cáceres.
Beltrán pointed out that the main objective of the conference was to explain and clarify this new energy model, which is now being greatly supported at EU level. The pros and cons of the model were addressed. Beltrán also conceded that this new model is still not well established at national level, but due to its potential benefits, the Provincial Council and AGENEX will decisively support all provincial municipalities wishing to establish energy communities in their territories, including the provision of direct financial support for their constitution.
Among the many advantages of the energy communities, Beltrán hinted at the cheap energy self-generation costs and the possibility of marketing the excess energy generated in the Community. On the other hand, complex processes such as the legal constitution of the community, will be technically supported by Agenex and the Provincial Councils.
The event was attended by political and technical officials and citizens interested in learning more about the legal, technical and regulatory aspects of the Energy Communities. Same as in Badajoz, some local experiences in Extremadura and other Spanish regions were presented: Lasierra EC (Basque Country), Esparza de Galar EC (Navarre), and Garciaz (Extremadura).
New energy community in Villanueva de la Serena
The Spanish utility company, Iberdrola, has also recently announced the start-up in the city of Villanueva de la Serena (Extremadura) of its second energy community in Spain. The shared PV generation and self-consumption capacities – developed together with the installation company “Electricidad La Serena” – will allow the residents of the area to benefit from the advantages of renewable self-consumption, without the need to have their own PV installation on their roofs or to make any previous investments at all.
The developed community self-consumption model will allows users to share all the renewable energy generated from a single photovoltaic facility installed at a maximum of 500 meters from their home. The PV facility has been located on the roof of the “Electricidad La Serena” warehouse. The PV system consists of 160 panels with a total power of 72,8 kW, enough to produce 108 MWh annually. This small PV plant will prevent the emission of nearly 480 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere over the next 25 years.
135 local residents will be able to save on their electricity bills by consuming part of the energy produced by this facility. On the other hand, Electricidad La Serena – a pioneer in shared PV facilities in Extremadura– will reduce the cost of their electricity bill by up to a 40%.
