Co2mmunity

A transnational exchange of experiences and capacity-building is needed to further promote renewable energy (RE). Fostering RE projects facilitated, implemented and co-financed by citizens, called community energy (CE), is highly promising for this. CE projects offer enhanced production of RE from local sources (wind, solar, biomass, hydropower, geothermal) through active participation of local communities by co-financing, co-developing, and co-operating RE plants. They foster sustainable energy distribution, like local heating networks or biogas filling stations, and have high social acceptance due to active communication, transparent decision-making, and local benefit sharing. No comprehensive documents about CE exist in the BSR.

Co2mmunity’s objectives are to create this CE knowledge base and to enhance the institutional capacities of Municipalities, Institutions responsible for regional energy planning and ERDF Operational Programmes, Political decision-makers responsible for energy issues in the BSR, and Energy and citizen’s associations for facilitating CE projects. Core are renewable energy cooperative partnerships (RENCOP), that initiate and support CE projects. In each partner region Co2mmunity will initiate and manage a RENCOP. A transnational exchange of RENCOPs will result in a transferable RENCOP model, enabling a transnational catch-up process between frontrunners and followers and enhancing the capacity of local, regional and BSR-wide actors to foster CE.

Total cost: 3 150 000 EUR (LEI part: 107 900 EUR)

Coordinator: Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel, Germany

Partners: 

• Kiel University, Germany
• Aalto University, Finland
• CAU Kiel – Working Group Economic Geography, Germany
• Energy Agency for Southeast Sweden – Energikontor Sydost AB, Sweden
• Foundation for Sustainable Energy, Poland
• GreenNet Finland
• GreenCityEnergy München, Germany
• Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung SH / Energiebürger SH, Germany
• Kaunas Regional Energy Agency, Lithuania
• Lithuanian Energy Institute, Lithuania
• Lund University, Sweden
• Middelfart Municipality, Denmark
• Regional Council of South-Ostrobothnia, Finland
• Riga Planning Region, Latvia
• Tartu Regiooni Energiaagentuur, Estonia
• Thermopolis Ltd. – Energy Agency of South Ostrobothnia, Finland