Cooperative energy projects are springing up all over Europe to get more renewable energy

Communities across Europe are increasingly making, consuming, and selling their own energy. According to the latest data, 2 million Europeans are now involved in 7,000 local energy communities across the continent, with more happening every day. As heat pumps replace gas boilers and electric vehicles supplant internal combustion engines, highly centralized electricity production and distribution systems, the power stations and grids will simply not be able to adequately handle the increase in demand for electricity. There is an urgent need to decentralize more and more, produce and consume more energy locally from sources like solar and wind and boost storage and smart solutions for efficient energy management. One project, Grunneger Power, in the Netherlands, has 2,500 members. It was created a decade ago by local people frustrated by the slow pace of the transition to renewable energy. The cooperative owns two solar parks with a total of 10,000 solar panels as well as smaller sites on homes and buildings across the city. The electricity generated is provided to the members of the cooperative with any excess sold to a sustainable energy provider. Any profits are invested back into the cooperative.



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