Europe Can Literally Be Powered By Its People

The European Commission recently proposed major changes to EU legislation governing the energy market. Why should you care? Because by doing so, the EU has laid solid building blocks towards energy democracy, argues Dirk Vansintjan, president of the European federation of renewable energy cooperatives.

While most discussions around the so-called 'Winter Package' focus on its shortcomings, this opinion piece emphasises the paradigm shift that the new legislation brought to community energy production in Europe. The package lays a solid foundation for the development of national legal frameworks across Europe so that all EU citizens have the opportunity to establish renewable energy cooperatives and to participate across the entire energy sector. The proposals also attempt to reduce a number of specific common barriers that coops face.

Before the package, European energy legislation did not even mention community participation in energy production. That meant cooperatives had to play by the same rules as large, centralised players, essentially placing renewable energy coops at a competitive disadvantage. A great read for those interested in community energy production in Europe.