EKIOLA: Prosumer PV Cooperatives in the Basque Country

EKIOLA is a public-private initiative promoted by the Company KREAN and the Basque Energy Agency (EVE) that is leading the creation of prosumer power cooperatives in the Basque Country through agreements with municipalities and citizens.

EKIOLA has started in 2021 and will finish in 2024. During this period, 30 to 50 non-profit cooperative energy communities will be established, which will have a live period of, at least, 25 years. The development of this initiative means the recognition of the important role of citizens in driving the energy transition and so aims to put consumers at the heart of the energy transition by converting them into Prosumers that will participate in the generation and management of PV power stations between 1 and 5 MW. Each power cooperative wild build and operate PV parks that will produce energy according to the demand required by the cooperative members.

The new solar PV plants will be installed in urban areas, producing Km0 renewable electricity. These plants will have a size of 1 MW to 5 MW. This means an investment between €800,000 and €4 million in each of the energy communities, depending on the land price.

Interested municipalities will be responsible of selecting the appropriate site for the PV plant, implementing the building projects, managing all the administrative requirements and supporting the citizens that wish to take part in the project. The participation of local private stakeholders such as financial institutions and banks to finance the projects is also expected.

The citizens will be prioritised as members of the energy community that will be also open to the participation of local administration and business. Each member of the energy community will cover 100% of the electricity demand from a local PV plant. Thus each participant will purchase only the PV panels required to meet the demand. The minimum required number of participants to develop an energy community under the EKIOLA initiative is 400 citizens. This represents the involvement of 12,000 to 20,000 families by 2024.

This best practice is issued from our publication Sustainable Regions in Action 2022. Read it now to discover many more best practices from FEDARENE members as well as an overview of our activities.