News
REScoop.eu welcomes new members
REScoop.eu is delighted to welcome some new members to her network. We strongly believe that by growing our network, we make sure the voices of citizens and their communities are better heard in the energy sector. Below you can find an overview of our new members.
South Kerry Community Energy Initiative - Ireland
This is a new organization aiming to develop wholly owned Community Energy initiatives in the South Kerry region. The region has a population of circa 50,000 and is very rural in nature. There are currently no community energy initiatives in the region (and very few at a national level) and this initiative, through the support of the INTERREG funding, is aiming to develop a scalable, wholly owned community energy structure in the region enabling the communities to benefit directly from the sustainable development of renewable energy assets in their areas. We are working with other similar groups in Ireland with a view to developing policy to facilitate the participation of communities in the energy sector in line with other EU countries. The South Kerry Community Energy Initiative hopes to have its first project in development by the end of 2020.
Facebook: South Kerry Development Partnership CLG
Good Energy Community Greece - Greece
www.goodenergy.gr (under construction)
This energy community was established in early 2019. Today, the energy community has 21 members and aims to expanding the upcoming year. Good Energy wants to promote renewable energy, electric chargers stations and e-cars to its members. Today, it has applied for two photovoltaic parks with a total capacity of 2 MW. The necessary funds will be collected from their members to fund these first investments.
In the future, Green Energy wants to further investment in renewable energy and environmental protection projects.
Greenpeace Energy - Germany
Greenpeace Energy is an energy cooperative operating throughout Germany that values responsible and sustainable action more than financial profits. They supply 150,000 customers, of which about 10,000 are business customers, with clean electricity and proWindgas, an ecologically superior alternative to natural gas. The business is organized as a cooperative with 25,000 members whose contributions provide a solid equity capital base and, thus, stability. The fact that the members are not only the cooperative’s owners but also its customers serves to prevent conflicts of interests: towards an ecologically oriented business policy rather than profit maximization.
Through their subsidiary Planet energy Greenpeace Energy builds their own power plants. Thirteen wind farms and three photovoltaic plants totaling 78 MW are already in operation. Furthermore, they take a very active role in energy policy discussions and help to set the stage for the energy turnaround: they test new concepts, for example concerning electromobility, and they sponsor research projects to foster innovation and to smoot the way into a future of clean energy.
Twitter: @greenpeace_nrg
Facebook: Greenpeace Energy
Vlaskracht - Belgium
Vlaskracht cvba is a citizen energy cooperative established in September 2018 for and by citizens from the Leie-region in Flanders.
Through the financial participation of their citizens, Vlaskracht aims to produce sustainable energy together with local partners at companies, public authorities and institutions. In this way, citizens can become co-owners of a photovoltaic installation of a certain size or windmill in the neighborhood.
Vlaskracht collaborates with local authorities in the region to inform citizens. The cooperative lobbies towards the municipalities that at least 50% of all sustainable energy investments should be owned by citizen cooperatives. Together with Beauvent, Vlaskracht has participated in the Leiedal tender for renewable energy installations in 10 Leiedal municipalities.
Vlaskracht is a citizen cooperative affiliated with REScoop Flanders (the Flemish federation of energy cooperatives) and acts entirely in accordance with the internationally recognized cooperative ICA principles. They work according to high social and ecological standards and are completely transparent towards their members.
Twitter: @vlaskracht
Conecta - Spain
Conecta is an energy cooperative in Spain that provides e-mobility services to their members through the development of a car-sharing network for small communities. Conecta is member of the Mobility Factory and cooperatively owns and develops the IT platform.
Other activities of the cooperative include training around e-cars and sustainable mobility, supporting other projects engaged in e-mobility and a cooperative businesses (charging points, renewable energy production).
Twitter: @ConectaMovEL
MobiCoop - France
MobiCoop is an energy cooperative offering car-sharing and car rental services. MobiCoop was founded in 2011 (transformed to a cooperative in 2018) as a reaction to the changing business model (forced commission on each journey) of the main car sharing platform in France. MobiCoop aims for mobility solidarity. The cooperative places its values at the center of its activities: sustainability, cooperation, solidarity and digital independence. The cooperative has 500 members and 350 000 users.
Twitter: @Mobicoop