"FV_Etxean": PV

By project SHREC

Published on 28 June 2022

Spain

País Vasco

Arrasate/Mondragón

About this good practice

The energy dependency is very high as well as the need of including renewable energy in the energy mix. Furthermore, local energy production is still very low, both in the Basque Country and in Arrasate/Mondragon.
One of the ways of reducing energy dependency is to improve self-energy consumption and to do so, some knowledge and legal framework are necessary. The main objective of "FV_Etxean: PV_at HOME" has been to analyse the steps that households would need to follow if they wanted to be self-consumers.
The conclusions of the research were presented in a document which included: background information of different PV installation typologies, current laws, funding opportunities, illustrative costs... Attached to the main document a briefing (Flyer) was mailed to every single mailbox in the city to inform and encourage citizens to shift to self-consumption. All that was launched with a sensibilization campaign in March 2021.
This action influences different type of stakeholders: starting from households, local businesses but even other cities in the region were interested in what was done in Arrasate/Mondragon.
Hence that is the case that other cities in the region started to consider replicating the model, not the same system that was implemented in Arrasate/Mondragon (a shared self-consumption for common services in the building) but other examples.

Resources needed

At the beginning the funding came from local budget. However, when the first example in Arrasate/Mondragon took place the stakeholder Debagoiena2030 showed interest, and currently the leadership is theirs.

Evidence of success

After the research done in Arrasate/Mondragon, other municipalities in the region have also started to develop their own processes focused on different models, such us, energy communities, or shared self-consumption. There are cases ongoing in Antzuola and Oñati.

Potential for learning or transfer

The activities developed within the process would be potentially interesting to other regions because the procedure was systematized: there were identified the steps needed to take under consideration when installing photovoltaic panels on Arrasate/Mondragon dwelling roofs.
Despite the results may be different, the followed steps could be similar in other regions: first, interviews with local authorities, local enterprise, and other interest groups to understand what the framework is; next step, analyse the legal and technical issues; further step, include real examples to give some data on investment and costs; final step, to communicate the results to the citizens.
At the end, even the results might be different, the methodology can be easily transferred.