Greek energy communities: The low-down for producing your own power

Members of the energy cooperative Koinergia in the northern city of Ioannina are finally benefiting from the virtual net-metering of the energy harnessed in their community solar park. Last month, one of them received a negative electricity bill, an eye-catching sight with a reasonable explanation.

Amid energy and climate crises and rising prices, a sustainable way of life need not be synonymous with sacrifice. Energy communities offer citizens an opportunity for cooperation and a sustainable mindset that ultimately improves quality of life.

“We are not just a few hippies producing our own energy; this is big,” Christos Vrettos, Electra Energy communications manager and project manager at REScoop.eu, who is also a member of the Hyperion Energy Community, told Kathimerini. “Try to see energy as a good, not as a commodity, to ensure everyone has access to it.”

The energy community movement has been growing, maturing and professionalizing all around Europe. Energy communities offer citizens the opportunity to collectively own, manage and benefit from renewable energy projects like solar panels, promoting democratic energy production.

These cooperative projects have been around for approximately six years. However, not many citizens are aware of their capacity to participate in or launch an energy community to reduce their carbon footprint and become independent of the energy market.

Studies project that by 2050, 50% of Europeans could be producing their own energy, covering nearly half of the EU’s electricity demand. Vrettos underscores the importance of community involvement in renewable energy projects and cites studies showing that energy community members consume 10% less energy than non-members.

How it works

As a founding member of the Hyperion Energy Community, established in 2019, Vrettos shares insights into their operation.

With approximately 120 members, Hyperion covers their electricity needs with a collectively owned 500 KW solar park in Corinthia, while also donating about 5% of the park’s annual energy production to the Mano Aperta social kitchen, the Anassa intercultural space and energy-poor families identified in collaboration with the municipalities of Halandri and Keratsini.

Aside from the original capital of approximately €2,000 to €3,000 required by each stakeholder to secure their equity in the collective solar park, members have to pay an annual maintenance fee of approximately €60 for the following 25 years, which is the average lifetime of a solar panel, making it a cost-efficient investment.

“A community like this starts off with a small solar park, then it starts getting to larger projects or more complicated projects, like housing renovations or flexibility,” said Vrettos. “Flexibility is when we adjust our consumption patterns based on how much renewable energy is available on the grid. If it’s noon and the sun is shining, the members of the community get a signal saying that now is a good time to consume energy.”

The estimated 2,500 to 3,000 individuals, NGOs and small businesses involved in these citizen energy communities benefit from more than just renewable energy. Hyperion, for instance, hosts knowledge cafes, where members discuss sustainable lifestyle practices in clothing, eating and energy-saving home renovations.

Additionally, solar parks have the potential to evolve into biodiversity hubs through agrivoltaics, a practice where agricultural land is used for both energy production and crop cultivation. The Koinergia energy collective is already planning the first ever community-led agrivoltaic project in Greece, in the city of Ioannina.

For Greek citizens interested in embarking on an energy production journey, Vrettos suggests three avenues: installing private solar panels, joining existing energy communities, or establishing a new one.

A movement in its infancy

Greece has more than 1,600 energy communities registered across its regions; however, many of these are defunct.

As Vrettos clarified, the energy communities that are collective, citizen-led projects number 50 to 70, unevenly spread out in the regions, with a higher concentration in Attica and across Thessaly.

One reason for the discrepancy is the initial surge of initiatives claiming to be energy communities back in 2018, before the legislation secured the framework from being exploited by private investors motivated to profit because of certain special provisions favorable to energy communities.

The Green Tank’s interactive Community Energy Watch map vividly illustrates the formidable bureaucratic barriers encountered in establishing energy communities, resulting in numerous projects being sidelined from the energy grid. Predominantly, energy produced within these communities remains grid-tied, presenting a major challenge due to the network’s limited capacity, causing delays in integrating self-generated energy.

Furthermore, a significant hurdle lies in the reliance on electricity suppliers to distribute energy to the community’s stakeholders. A poignant instance is the experience of the Koinergia community, where suppliers, devoid of profit incentive, did not apply the virtual net metering contracts (Official Government Gazette 759Β/5.3.2019). In Ioannina, members of the Koinergia community were generating their own energy in a communal solar park, yet found themselves continuously burdened with charges by suppliers.

This issue garnered attention from environmental communities and community members alike, prompting parliamentary intervention.

“The community energy movement is evolving, it’s maturing, it’s professionalizing,” Vrettos said.

The recent outcome, marked by negative electricity bills, stands as a monumental victory for the energy community movement, showcasing its evolution into a more robust, mature and professionalized entity.