Until now, Valencia with its 800.000 inhabitants may be more known for its mild climate and lovely beaches than for its incredibly collaborative and forward-looking energy policy. In part 2 of our ECF collaboration lab series, we dive into Valencia’s impressive efforts to involve the local community in energy and climate matters. A big change of culture is about to happen.

In this episode we chatted with some of the people who are driving this change: Carmen Castells, Valencia Energy Office, Indertec-Imedes and Fernando González. Fernando is Secretary of the Association which manages the energy community in the neighbourhoods of Ayora and Algirós. The city already counts several local energy cooperatives, but what was missing until now, was an energy community. Carmen and Fernando share the work they are doing to build strong energy communities and push Valencia forward.

This episode and the collaboration lab were made possible thanks to funding from the European Climate Foundation (ECF). The ECF is an international non-profit and its great team promotes climate and energy policies in Europe. In 2019, the European Climate Foundation launched its Energy Democracy program. It focuses on the support of community energy projects both at the EU and national levels. europeanclimate.org

ECF collaboration episode: priority to renewables and energy poverty in Valencia

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We all try to make green choices for a more sustainable world. And so do local authorities as public buyers. Through public procurement authorities buy work, goods or services. Green public procurement means those authorities use their purchasing power to support the clean energy transition. 
In this episode of City Stories, Efren Guillò Sansano who is the Head of Innovation at the Spanish cooperative Grupo Enercoop explains how bidding processes can pave the way for energy communities.  In our conversation, Efren takes the example of Crevillent, a Spanish municipality close to Alicante. A few years ago, the Crevillent City Council created a concession procedure for rooftop solar on municipal buildings and they added special community criteria. One of them was that 80% of the electricity produced on municipal roofs should be shared with local citizens.  
Learn more in my conversation with Efren. Let’s go and let’s dive into the wonderful world of tendering contracts, technical specifications and award criteria.

This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. www.sccale203050.eu

SCCALE episode on public procurement for energy communities

The fourth instalment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ explores the subject of methane emissions, specifically the establishment of a Methane Regulation in the EU, as well as the increasing attention methane is receiving in the maritime sector, both maritime fuel emissions and leakages from LNG shipments. For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by Andris Piebalgs of FSR and Maria Olczak of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), the conversation builds on the pair's recent publication of a Policy Brief on this subject.

In a wide-reaching episode, the group discuss the extent of the methane emissions problem and why it has gained so much attention in recent years, the landmark inclusion of methane under the EU ETS, the complexity of regulating in an international sector like maritime, as well as some of the measurement technology used to ensure accountability.

See below for a link to the original Policy Brief

https://www.oxfordenergy.org/publications/the-decarbonisation-of-maritime-transport-navigating-between-a-global-and-eu-approach/

Episode 4 | Invisible but detectable! Regulating and pricing methane emissions in Europe and at sea

Some say the energy transition is a great opportunity to create a more equal society. Others are more pessimistic and predict that the transition will worsen inequalities. How does reality look like and what solutions do we already have at hand to guarantee fair access and good lives to all, no matter their income, race, religion, gender?

I’m delighted to talk about inclusive cities and communities with two trailblazing women: Kata Tütto and Antonia Proka.

Kata is Deputy Mayor at the City of Budapest, and candidate for this year’s European Parliament election in Hungary. Antonia represents the world of cooperatives: She is project manager at RESCoop.eu and co-author of the Inclusivity Guide for Energy Communities that was released a few months ago. Let’s go for a this episode where we talk about residents of all types and from all strands!

This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. www.sccale203050.eu

SCCALE episode on inclusive power: Changing how we think about cities and energy access

"The fifth instalment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ explores the why, when, and how of carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) in Europe. 

For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by part-time Professor of FSR Christopher Jones. The conversation builds on the recent publication of Christopher's Policy Brief on this subject, linked below.
CCUS technology and infrastructure has the highest value-add in the period during which Europe is still transitioning from fossil value chains to fully decarbonised value chains. For this reason, it needs to be deployed quickly, often retrofitted to existing industrial facilities. Christopher's Policy Brief presents a tentative vision for how a regulatory framework could be establsihed in time to maximise the effectiveness of CCUS technologies.

See below for a link to the original Policy Brief

https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/76181;jsessionid=9E2F6DCA9B2A1A82BF25195BD7A0034B"

Episode 5 | Policy Before Pipes: Fast-Tracking a Regulatory Framework for CCUS

Today we are in Zwolle, around 1h20 drive from Amsterdam. The town of 130.000 inhabitants has a beautiful medieval centre. Today’s guest, Olaf Heinen, lives in the neighbourhood of Assendorp, more specifically in the area of Sallandsweide.This area is composed of very different types of houses and holds a very diverse group of residents. This is also where most of the city’s low-income people live.

A few years ago, Olaf and his neighbours wondered how they could make their 170 homes more comfortable, their heating cleaner and their streets greener. Olaf can be called an “entrepreneurial activist” and during the interview you’ll understand why. He explains how conversations around the kitchen table led to the idea of installing a heating network owned by the residents. Olaf is a trained energy consultant and since several years he puts his knowledge at the service of his own neighbourhood, as part of the program 50 shades of Assendorp which is a pilot area for the SCCALE 20-30-50 project.

This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. SCCALE is an EU project (Horizon 2020 programme) which makes collaboration happen to get many more energy communities up and running. The people behind SCCALE203050 work on a methodology and toolkit for citizens, cities and policy makers. If you, too, want to see more local energy communities across Europe, check out the toolkit and explore all of the project’s resources at the website sccale203050.eu.

SCCALE interview about an emerging heat community in The Netherlands

In this episode we spoke to Yan Qin, Lead Carbon Analyst at the London Stock Exchange Group LSEG. We discuss recent trends and drivers of EU carbon prices, interactions between gas and carbon prices and price trends in the Chinese national ETS. The interview was led by Marie Raude and Lea Heinrich, Research Associates at the Climate Team of the Florence School of Regulation. This podcast was recorded in Florence during the EUI Climate Week 2024.

Ep 6 | Carbon pricing trends in the EU and China with Yan Qin

Welcome to City Stories, the podcast by Energy Cities. Energy Cities is the European city network of local authorities in energy transition with over 1000 members from 30 countries. This podcast is for those who want to learn more about how cities go about with the energy transition. The challenge is big, but there are so many new, collaborative practices that emerge and that make this challenge fun and feasible. Each month we invite passionate European guests from different horizons and sectors who dedicate much of their time to making the energy transition more democratic. Each conversation brings out a city’s story as well as very personal opinions and motivations. The podcast is moderated by Miriam Eisermann. It is available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts

ECF collaboration episode: priority to renewables and energy poverty in Valencia

City stories: The podcast by Energy Cities

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