New European Bauhaus

Expanding the principles of the New European Bauhaus beyond boundaries of the big cities and reach the citizens of middle-sized towns, paying special attention to most vulnerable groups. Working the engagement of vulnerable consumers to renewable energies and self-consumption by means of coidentifying shared challenges and cocreation potential solutions.

Supporting an open business model for self-consumption installations in energy communities for social economy entities (commercials, technicians, mediators, ethical banks, etc.), catapulting the contribution of entities with social and environmental value, in cooperation with the municipality and the citizens.

Challenge addressed

Energy communities to ensure comfort living at affordable prices through multidisciplinary retrofitting teams

Solution proposed, focus area

Mataró, a middle-sized county capital with a population of 125.000, located 40 km north of Barcelona. Mataró has a clear intent towards sustainability and environment, with a County Board for Sustainability since 1993 and a SECAP approved in 2018.

Two parallel initiatives feed this proposal:

Mataró city council is going to promote an energy community with vulnerable households that will start in autumn 2021. The EC Boost En project will pave the way with the citizens to identify the challenges and start landing the future community.

ECOSERVEIS has developed a business model for self-consumption energy communities based on SSC (the MONDCE project, currently ongoing).

Both initiatives will serve as the basis for the reflective process regarding access to energy in Mataró and definition and boosting of future energy community(ies)

HOW?

A 4-step journey for engagement, from challenge identification to cocreation and celebration

Target Groups

Vulnerable consumers of the neighbourhood of Cerdanyola, a deprived area in Mataró

Main activities / milestones

Belonging Fest: An event open to the neighbours of Cerdanyola to raise public awareness about Climate Change, Renewable Energies and Self-consumption.

Co-identification workshop and training: Dedicated workshop with target groups for challenge/barriers identification, including a training based on their needs.

Co-creation workshops and training: A second workshop to permit the citizens engage with the concepts of renewable energies and self-consumption and provide ideas and potential solutions.

BoostEn event: A larger-scale event open to all the Mataró neighbours for raising awareness about vulnerabilities associated to access to energy, as well as promoting alternative energy solutions as energy communities.

Partnership

ECOSERVEIS with the collaboration of Mataró city council

Outcomes

The EC-Boost Mataró Lab project brought energy players and citizens together, with the aspects of new initiatives arising; combined with massive sensibilization and engagement campaigns. Through the development of the project, the implication of the local authority has been key in order to get to know the local context. 

The project listed different case studies and grouped them in three different categories. The three core business models identified and suggested for the municipality to build innovative public-communitarian energy production initiatives along with citizens, including vulnerable users are as follows:

-        Rooftop leasing to third parties

-        Leasing of the use of PV panels with fee or fee-free

-        Public-communitarian collaboration

Through the workshops energy vulnerability was tackled – for instance, the solutions proposed for energy savings at home always started by cost-effective measures that most people can apply. Good practices related to energy consumption at home were developed, which the participants found insightful and reflective. The issue of energy communities has been boosted, which is absolutely positive since it means fostering the energy transition away from large cities in the country. Moreover, these workshops gave an opportunity to engage with the participants, to debate about alternative energy sources and collective consumption models, such as energy communities, as well as to listen to their concerns. 

The EC-Boost Mataró Lab project had contributed to help reach vulnerable households and plant a seed to increase the awareness of the local community of the flaws of the current energy model and how to change it by implementing Energy Communities