EMPOWER 2.0

Regional Energy Participation - Collective solar roofs: obstacles? The solutions of cooperatives!

01 July 2021 - Published by Dominique Dhondt
On Tuesday night, 15 June, the Stichting Stadsgarage organised this action session in collaboration with Stichting Kennemer Energie, Coöperatie Kennemer Kracht and the municipality of Haarlem. About 40 participants, mainly cooperatives and officials from the region IJmond and Kennemerland, registered for this third action session of the Regional Energy Participation.

It is no surprise that there are obstacles to the realisation of collective solar roofs and that one must be patient. But... how do you solve these obstacles, how do you get around them and what can fellow energy cooperatives and officials from our region IJmond and Kennemerland learn from this?

The solutions of energy cooperatives themselves were on the programme of this online action session. With recent lessons and solutions from the practice of KweekZon and Mendel College in Haarlem, among others. Also the learning moments of the real estate department of the municipality of Haarlem were shared, as well as the innovative business model of Tegenstroom in the Haarlemmermeer.

Circumventing, tackling and solving, the useful outcomes
Forming a multidisciplinary team within the municipality, the idea of asset manager Real Estate Municipality Haarlem, can be put into practice in all regional municipalities. Bringing the right people with the right information together, so that the possibilities and possible obstacles are carefully examined in advance. As well as involving building owners at an early stage, so that they can learn from the experiences of other building owners or previous projects. Tegenstroom's inspiring business model is one of the solutions for the lack of suitable roofs.

The unique project of KweekZon, with solar panels on greenhouses, managed to get around the obstacles and shared the solutions in this action session. Coöperatie Kennemer Kracht showed a clear summary of obstacles, regarding the realisation of the collective solar roof of the Mendel College, in different phases with the corresponding solutions. Learn from these cases and the solutions in the following videos and presentations.

Interaction, action and follow-up
Kennemer Energie offers EcoHeemskerk support in the analysis and investigation of municipal real estate. Tegenstroom is curious about the business model of KweekZon. And real estate manager Haarlem recognises the research into whether a roof is suitable at all, by KweekZon. The chat was also actively used to give each other tips, exchange information and ask questions. In this way, we can learn from and with each other across the region.

The energy transition remains a complicated journey, which we are energetically pursuing to find solutions to accelerate regional energy generation. We continue to look for solutions to various obstacles. Through knowledge exchange, cooperation and a strong regional network, together we can accelerate sustainable energy generation and citizen participation in our region. Our thanks to all attendees and speakers for this important contribution. In the autumn, a follow-up action session will take place, where the recruitment of suitable roofs will be on the programme.

Were you unable to attend or would you like to see the presentations again? Below you will find all videos and presentations as they were available during the meeting. We are happy to share them, so that together we can build more and more knowledge on the regional energy transition.