by Donagh Cagney
An energy community project in south-west Brussels is cutting energy bills for a homeless shower facility in the hope that the new European Commission will help make this an everyday reality across Europe.
On a crisp December morning in south-west Brussel’s Anderlecht district, a line of unhoused people wait patiently at the entrance of the DoucheFLUX washing and showering facility.
Since the spring of this year, solar panels on the roof have been powering the sites’ washing machines and dryers in a partnership with local energy cooperative Brupower.
“We are waiting for the final annual electricity bill, but we’re aiming for a 20-30% reduction,” Benjamin Brook, the facility’s director, told journalists at a press visit on 3 December.
Brupower has 300 members who collectively own the solar installations. The cooperative installed the panels and is responsible for their operation and maintenance.
DoucheFLUX pays Brupower when the panels are producing and the site is simultaneously consuming energy, with profits reinvested in this or other Brupower sites. Around 80% of the solar panel’s power is directly consumed on-site, while two neighbouring houses also benefit from the surplus energy.
For Brook, “we started off as a community project" and that is why “the energy community and sharing approach very much fits with our ethos.”
Support from Europe
The European Commission believes that this community-based approach helps channel the benefits of the energy transition locally, and can help attract fresh investment into renewable installations.
The EU’s Clean Energy Package enshrined the concept in law as of 2019, and further supportive policy was added in the EU’s response to the 2022 energy crisis.
“The EU’s Clean Energy Package should have been transposed into national law two years ago – but implementation is still very patchy,” Josh Roberts told journalists in Anderlecht.
Roberts is senior policy advisor with RESCoop, a European federation of energy communities, which organised the site visit. “Some of the building blocks are there, but an enabling framework for energy communities is still needed,” he added.
Stanislas Herbemont, a Brupower Board member at the event, agrees. Energy communities will be “transformative,” he said “but structural support is needed to ensure they realise their full potential.”
The Danish approach
Proponents of the approach believe that the new Commission will do more to make energy communities an everyday experience, and are pinning their hopes on a new Citizen’s Energy Package – which incoming Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen has been charged with developing.
Alongside enforcement of existing rules, RESCoop is calling on the new Commission to provide EU funding for energy communities, as this “can help de-risk investments into local projects and encourage growth.”
In his 4 November audition in front of MEPs, Jorgensen spoke warmly about energy communities, calling them “quite a success,” and saying that they allow “people to take matters into their own hands.”
“Hopefully we will also be able to fund, in the future, projects like this,” he concluded.
RESCoop’s Roberts said that “we would like to get Dan Jorgensen down here [the DoucheFLUX site]” and noted that he "has experience of energy communities in Denmark – so we are hopeful the next Commission can deliver.”
*first published in: Euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
