Sponsorship to enable residents of social housing to reduce their bills thanks to solar electricity
About this good practice
Today, nearly 7 million households in France are in a situation of energy insecurity, according to the founding members of the association ADEME, De Gaulle Fleurance & Associés, Enerplan, Groupe BPCE, TECSOL and the Union sociale pour l'Habitat.
Combining social and environmental progress, this is the challenge of the Association Sol Solidaire, which is launching its first sponsorship campaign to collect funds to cover part of the cost of installing photovoltaic panels, for collective self-consumption systems (powers ranging from 10 to 250 kWp), in social housing (social and public landlords) to reduce their energy bills thanks to solar energy. A reduction annual electricity bill by around €200/household.
A donation since 500€ to Sol Solidaire has a direct and concrete impact.
The solar energy thus produced will then be distributed directly and free of charge to the inhabitants of the equipped social housing units which represents 10 million tenants for 4.7 million social housing units.
The association manages the call for projects from social landlords with high level requirements on technical and environmental aspects and involvement of beneficiaries; and the fund-raising appeal from patrons and citizens.
500€ is the amount needed to equip a household with two children with solar panels and the saving for a beneficiary family is around 300€ per year for 30 years (i.e. 9,000 €).
Resources needed
1full time job on SolSolidaire organisation supported by TECSOL group. Social landlords spend small time responding to the call for proposals. For this 1st campaign, Solsolidaire aims to raise 500k€ and plans to gradually increase up to 10 M€ in 2025. Corporate tax reduction for donors of up to 66%.
Evidence of success
The Sol Solidaire’s first national call for projects was launched in November 2020 with:
• 8 social landlords applied according to the specifications,
• 7 collective self-consumption operations were selected: 1,793 dwellings concerned for 1,691 kWp acumulative power.
• 100% funds to cover the full installations, including the maintenance.
• 1 pilot system 9 kWp in a building of 12 apartments, UES Habiter 12 (Aveyron)
Potential for learning or transfer
At a time when collective self-consumption is spreading in Europe, this experience of selecting projects with high quality requirements (in terms of technical, environmental and beneficiary involvement) carried by social landlords is interesting. The terms of the call for projects from social landlords can easily be adapted to another national context and are available on the website.
The mechanism of financing through patronage and tax deductions also seems to be replicable. The issue of fuel poverty is not a major concern and the tax rescript granted to SOL SOLIDAIRE has made it possible to raise sufficient funds to cover the additional costs of collective self-consumption facilities for 1 793 social housing units.
Solsoldaire is based on a patronage logic that entitles donors to a reduction in income or corporation tax of up to 66%. In addition, the display of donors makes it possible to highlight their participation, which has facilitated the call for patronage.
Further information
Website
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