Energy sharing based on individually owned facilities
About this good practice
In Wallonia, a member of the REC who owns a solar installation has the right to share the part of its production he doesn't use for its own consumption (the surplus) to the other members of the community.
This right is subject to one condition : the member who shares its own solar production must be an "autoproducer" (prosumer), who is defined as such in the Walloon legislation: "any natural or legal person producing electricity mainly for their own use".
Practically, the member sells its surplus produced by its own facility to the REC and the REC sells the electricity to the members.
This practice is innovative because it creates a new way for prosumer to value financially their own surplus. It makes broader the options for a REC to start an energy sharing because a collective investment in a new facility, which usually takes time, is not needed anymore.
In other words, this practice makes the launch of an energy sharing system within a REC quicker.
It does not prevent to also make a collective investment. That way the REC could share with its members electricity produced both by some of them and by its own facilities.
Resources needed
Since it is a regulatory measure, the good practice does not have a cost.
The main way to measure its impact is to measure how many energy communities shares electricity produced by facilities owned by their own members.
Evidence of success
Quantitative
In Wallonia 2 energy sharing projects work with individual plants installed
Qualitative
The feedback received from project leaders that told us that such a legislative framework makes the start of the project easier
Potential for learning or transfer
This good practice brings a solution to different issues faced by RECs:
• Access to finance
• Difficulties to find trust to set up a collective investment
• Difficulties to find a site where to place the facility of the community
• The risk of dissolution of the REC (what happens with the installation)
This possibility was not explicitly foreseen by the Directive 2018/2001 & 2019/944. Wallonia is not the only Member State to have authorized such a possibility. However, in several countries this approach is not authorized yet. By analysing the text of the Wallon decree, other EU countries could find inspiration to modify their own regulatory framework.
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Public Service of Wallonia, Territory, Housing, Heritage, Energy