The city of Sint-Niklaas wants to establish one of the first multi-stakeholder energy communities in Flanders. For this, schools, civil society, healthcare institutions and companies are invited to share their energy surpluses with each other locally. In time, the city wants to extend the energy community to citizens. An ambitious goal for which Transition Stories is happy to lay the foundations!
Climate Schools for an OK Future
That the city of Sint-Niklaas is releasing funds for this ambitious project is no coincidence. In 2022, we jointly launched the climate schools for an OK Future project, in which the city of schools wanted to redesign the operation of climate coaches. This is where the demand for energy sharing manifested itself. For schools, the investment in solar panels is not obvious, especially since they do not buy their own electricity during the summer months. The climate schools trajectory will continue in 2023 and will be given an extra dimension with the energy sharing pilot project.
Towards an energy community for citizens
During a first workshop on 9 March, the various candidates were introduced to the concept of energy sharing.
Based on our calculations, an initial scenario was proposed. In an energy community, it is important that there is sufficient offtake and that the profiles of the participants are complementary. This means we need sufficient offtake when schools are closed, for example. For this, healthcare institutions or companies producing 24/7 are interesting. Guaranteed off-take then makes it interesting again for schools – and other participants – to continue investing in renewable energy production.
The next steps we are taking with our pioneers are to agree on a legal structure on the one hand and set up a financial model on the other. By next school year, September 2023, we want to start with the first participants. From 2024, we will continue to expand the energy community and from 2025, the city wants to allow citizens to join.