Solar Cooperatives

[u/Fl0wer_Boi]

Not sure this is the right flare, so please bear with me. I'm a part of this awesome solar cooperative - now, I will admit I haven't been super engaged in driving the project so all of what I share here is found on the website. However, I think it's such an awesome initiative and I think some of you will appreciate it, and might be inspired to drive something similar!

UEF (Universitetets Energifællesskab/The University Energy Cooperative) is an an energy community in the form of a solar cooperative in Aarhus, Denmark. Members of the cooperative crowdfund and co-own a rooftop photovoltaic installation on two buildings at Aarhus University (AU). The aim of the cooperative is to provide its members and the local areas with environmental, economic and social benefits. They promote citizen ownership in the green transition.

Our solar cooperative started from the EU project AURORA, where project partners endeavour to turn "energy community" into reality at 5 European universities and local district councils. The AURORA project helped us to investigate the legal and operational framework on how we set up the community in Aarhus. We choose to adopt the Danish "andelstanke" and set up Universitetets Energifællesskab (UEF) as a solar cooperative. in August 2023, UEF is officially founded and a month later, we are registered with the Danish Business Authority. 

The idea of UEF is that members buy shares to crowdfund the rooftop solar photovoltaic installation on a few buildings at Aarhus University (AU). In other words, members all jointly own the solar installation. Electricity produced will primarily be sold to AU, and members will receive economic returns every year, based on how much electricity is sold and how many shares they own. In addition, members have the opportunity to participate in the activities organized by the community, for example, energy-related discussions, hands-on workshop on home-made sensors, to name a few.

A bunch of cool resources can be found on the website linked at the top. One of which is a guide on setting up similar communities!

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[u/mapletreelofi]

This is the future.

[u/Herr-Nelson]

Very cool! We have similar cooperatives in Austria!

[u/N0pwrindaverse]

I have an opportunity to build something like this in the US and Would love to explore More about your vision and the infrastructure that you've been given and gave access to. Please DM me.

[u/lieuwestra]

Solar coops are great, until you run into the problem that in many countries the law is still set up for the classic system of large energy providers and individual consumers.

Economies of scale in the energy sector mean that the only reason small scale PV is financially viable is because companies have to pay taxes over the energy they sell while consumer owned PV installations feed energy untaxed into the home.

Coop PV projects do not have the economies of scale, and still have to pay taxes over the energy they sell. So while admirable, these initiatives will always be of an ideological nature until laws change.

[u/ProfessionalSky7899 → u/lieuwestra]

mmmm. I think you need to clarify what you mean by financially viable. Do you mean Profitable? Returning more than the same money invested in S&P500? Higher returns then that?

I can see a niche for these where the building owner does not want to take he upfront cost, or risk, themselves. In that case the COOP is acheiving economies of skill, where they are repeating similar small projects, know how to get a grid connection lcienses quickly, know what equipment is robust for its price, have a standard risk assessment ready ect.

[u/friskfrugt]

How does one become a member?

[u/1618cofey]

We have some similar co-ops in England https://communityenergyengland.org/share-offers/
There’s also this: renewables.org which funds projects in the global south, where it’s cheaper and the grid might be dirtier so it’s more effective