With the changes in energy systems and transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources, energy cooperatives began to appear throughout Europe, and now are widespread, especially in the countries of Northern Europe. Energy cooperatives are innovative social structures that work to find a collective solution to the problems that arise during the process energy transition. Production of local and clean energy is enabled through energy cooperatives, so in addition to the positive effect on the environment and human health, they also bring benefits to the local economy.

The main characteristics that separate energy cooperatives from another energy market participants are: involvement of the general public – which enables direct participation in energy production management, focus on non-commercial profits – such as nurturing the community spirit, and motivation for a more efficient transition to sustainable energy systems. The importance of the energy cooperative in the process of the energy transition is therefore not only in increasing the capacity of renewable energy production technologies, but also in easier acceptance of necessary changes and finding and implementing creative solutions that will enable local community development. 

In Western European countries, knowledge and experience of citizens associated with energy cooperative is an important item in the projects of transition to renewable energy sources and they use their acquired knowledge to help lunch new similar initiatives, which leads to replication at the local level, with many projects repeating good practices in the RES sector.

The positive effect that such cooperatives can have on the whole society if they are supported and developed properly, is to encourage the achievement of local energy and climate goals, the goals of sustainable development, and the goals of the Paris Agreement.

 What is happening in Serbia?

The concept of energy cooperative is not so familiar in Serbia. The legislation of the Republic of Serbia does not recognize the term energy cooperative, so it treats it like any other, which significantly limits the range of their activities. An additional problem is that the energy cooperative, as an energy producer, is set side by side with thermal power plants, which means it has to pay the environmental tax that is in the same amount as one that thermal power plants have to pay for the same amount of energy produced, although the negative impact of thermal power plants on the environment is incomparably greater. This legal framework significantly discourages anyone who would like to take part in the process of creating an energy cooperative and producing energy from renewable sources.

Despite the stated aggravating circumstances, Serbia got its first energy cooperative and that pioneering the endeavor was realized in Sabac. In November 2019, the District Heating Plant "Toplana-Šabac" started a project to establish an energy cooperative called "Sunčani krovovi" (“Suny Rooftops“), to attract citizens and investors and invest in photovoltaic panels, which will produce energy for the heating plant and thus help this heating plant to produce heat for its citizens from renewable sources.

In an interview with the director of this heating plant, Mr Slobodan Jerotic, he stated that after several projects they had implemented over the last few years, in relation to increasing the energy efficiency of residential buildings in Sabac and introducing biomass as an energy source for heat production, the project "Sunčani krovovi" is yet another step towards moving away from fossil fuels and switching to renewable energy sources, which is the goal of this district heating plant.

The project of the energy cooperative "Sunčani krovovi" aims to attract a group of people who will invest their knowledge and money in the construction of a joint system of electricity production from renewable sources, primarily from solar panels. The first steps taken were the installation of 3kW solar panels on the roof of the heating plant building, and according to the director of this heating plant, additional capacities are planned in order to reach 17kW.

Greater involvement of citizens is also planned, which will enable the installation of additional photovoltaic capacities through the "crowdfunding" campaign and their investments. The ultimate goal of this energy cooperative is to pave the roofs of all residential buildings in Sabac with solar panels, which would be owned by the residents of these buildings. Through such a system, the heating plant could buy energy from the citizens, which would have a positive impact both economically and environmentally for the heating plant on the one hand, as well as for the citizens on the other.

Plans for further development of this district heating plant in Sabac are going in the direction of completely abandoning fossil fuels as an energy source. We can only hope that drawn by the positive practice developed in this city, heating plants and other public utility companies in other cities in Serbia will decide to change their approach to energy production.

Photo source: canva.com