21.12.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 486/63
Renewable electricity 2.21 Renewable electricity such as wind, solar and biogas is a major component of the rural landscape.
The harmonisation of the legislation among Member States must promote and protect prosumers’ interests and motivate investments in renewable energy infrastructures.
The capacity to sell the energy produced into the national grid must be made possible in all Member States.
There must be adequate compensation schemes between the renewable energy produced by the prosumers and the energy consumed to ensure the energy independence of rural areas.
2.22 Recent auctions for centralised procurement of renewable electricity have become increasingly widespread and have succeeded in many cases in reducing the construction costs of wind and solar facilities.
In general, the development of rural electricity is primarily linked to the decarbonisation of the energy sector and there are no synergies with rural development objectives.
Rural inhabitants frequently object to such developments as they foresee little benefit to the local community.
2.23 Co-operatives and other locally based organisations need to be involved in agreeing locations for renewable electricity facilities, both land-based and in coastal regions.
Local communities need to have a shareholding and obtain a local benefit from such facilities.
2.24 In these large projects, the development of renewable energy is primarily linked to the decarbonisation of the energy sector; there is little concern for rural development.
Small-scale wind farms, small solar and anaerobic digesters operated by co-operatives and local people can be more targeted towards rural development, as well as social and economic inclusion of rural communities.
There is a need for a balance to be achieved in relation to these two systems.
Renewable energy communities and citizen energy communities provide a way to achieve a just energy transition combined with community development.
2.25 A case study in rural Sweden (Ejdemo and Söderholm, 2015) found that, in the absence of community benefit schemes, employment opportunities were very modest in the context of rural development.
2.26 A citizen energy community is a legal entity where citizens, SMEs and local authorities come together as final users to cooperate in the generation of renewable energy.
One such example is in the Municipality of Feldheim, (a small village southwest of Berlin) which has become self-sufficient in energy.
They have set up wind turbines in their backyard and installed an independent grid.
Residents pay minimum prices for electricity.
The establishment of a biogas plant enabled the village to establish a district heating network.
This is an excellent example of a renewable energy community in operation.
It also demonstrates that a bottom up approach is vital for the future of rural areas (5).
2.27 Demand-side response shifts electrical consumption to periods of time when the system can cope with the demand.
We need to flatten the net demand curve for electricity during peak demand periods so as to avoid outages as more green electricity is produced.
The use of battery storage, hydro storage and smart electrification will provide flexibility in flattening the net demand curve.
2.28 Speaking in Dublin to Irish parliamentarians, energy commissioner Kadri Simson said that the war in Ukraine had forced Brussels to move further and faster to end Russian fuel imports.
She said that, under proposals yet to be agreed, the EU will aim to take 45 % of its energy consumption from renewables by 2030.
That will be an increase from the present 32 % target and more than double the 22 % share in 2020.
The EESC endorses this new target but warns that it can only be achieved by rapidly driving forward with new and greater investment in the rural energy transition.
2.29 The wind does not always blow so a backup will be necessary.
Green hydrogen can provide a backup to satisfy the varied demand for electricity and can be stored until required.
(5)
ERP WORKSHOP REPORT Workshop 21.