Policymakers from across the EU and the UK are promoting the creation of more Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) as European countries deliver on their commitments to the Paris Agreement. Across northwestern Europe, experts estimate there are now more than 10,000 community energy associations, mainly in Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK. Members invest their money in solar power, wind power, small hydroelectric plants, bioenergy, and even combined heat and power plants (categorization of renewable energy (link in blog post)); Spain and Italy in southern Europe have also launched their first model community.
Germany
The famous renewable energy community in Germany is located in Wildpoldsried, a small town in Bavaria, southern Germany. Twenty years ago, Wildpoldsried was just a veritable "small town". The residents here were mainly herdsmen. The lack of job opportunities caused many young people to leave here. Today, a cluster of buildings covered with solar photovoltaics makes the town the most successful renewable energy town in Germany. The town uses wind power generation, solar power generation and biomass power generation facilities to produce 43 million kWh of electricity, while the total electricity needed for transportation and life of local residents is only 6.2 million kWh—the amount of energy produced is its consumption 7 times!
Next is Heilbronn, an old medieval market town on the Neckar River in the southwest, where solar panels adorn the roofs of homes, kindergartens and schools, municipal buildings and factory halls in a city of 126,000 people. Heilbronn Community Energy One of 900 community energy cooperatives in Germany that sell renewable energy to German households or businesses, the town's cooperatives and other collectively owned clean energy account for about one-third of Heilbronn's combined output One household provides electricity.
