Since 2016, Munich turned two of its neighbourhoods into a laboratory: over a bit more than 4 years, 20 million euros were invested in testing smart city solutions. That money came from the EU funded Smarter Together project. In this episode we chat with Bernhard Klassen and Verena Stoppel who both coordinated one after the other the Smarter Together Project – one of many innovative projects in Munich. Together with them, we dived into this large-scale experimentation around energy, mobility,  the role of big data and citizen participation and learn about their approach to urban renewal.

This episode was recorded via internet and is brought to you by the Smarter Together project, funded within the European Horizon 2020 programme.

For those who want to get more information: have a look at the Smarter Together website www.smarter-together.eu. Learn more about the three lighthouse cities in the project Lyon, Vienna and Munich and explore the project in details.

Episode with Verena Stoppel and Bernhard Klassen from Munich

The City of Prague has an ambitious Climate Plan. In addition to high goals for energy efficiency, this plan includes an objective of fostering the emergence of energy communities. For this episode we met Miloslav Franek from the energy management department of Prague City Hall and Tereza Mc Laughlin Vanova from the Czech Association of Local Energy Managers. Together, they are about to set up the very first Czech energy community in the Czech capital. How ready are the Czech Republic and its residents for this new type of energy generation? In this conversation,Tereza and Miloslav lead us through the complexity of decentralized and citizen-driven energy in Czech Republic.

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 lab episode: Prague's first steps in community energy matters

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

In this episode, two energy experts based in the East of France join us to share their plans for an energy community in the city of Besançon. Besançon counts around 120.000 inhabitants. Anik Lehman-Tron is a renewables expert and works for the local government. Mireia Matencio is legal advisor at Opale Energies Naturelles, a renewables company based in the same area. Together, they want to operate energy production in an entirely different way and, what’s most important, boost the involvement of citizens. It is exciting to see how well the city and the private sector perspective converge!

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 programme. It focuses on the support of community energy projects both at the EU and national levels. europeanclimate.org

ECF collaboration lab episode: community energy, a powerful force of change in Besançon

In this episode Miriam sits down with Pau Balcells from the Barcelona Data Office. Together they dive into the role of data to design, feed and assess innovative and sustainable policies. The city of Barcelona is leveraging on data for better decision-making and to become a smarter and fairer place. During the talk Pau shares why big data have become the issue of our time. He also talks about the DataCity initiative that will contribute to the city’s amazing objective of erasing energy poverty in the next 8 years.


This episode is brought to you by the EU project mPower. mPower explores how cities and citizens can manage the energy transition together – in a fair, clean and democratic way. Participation can happen at various stages: from involving citizens, local NGOs or businesses in the policy design to any stage of the energy value chain: for example as shareholders or even prosumers. The mPower project gets funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme.

Pau Balcells about the data culture in the City of Barcelona

How do you engage individuals and local organisations in the energy transition? What does it need to make them allies in the journey towards greener cities? And what if people get tired of workshops around the city of TOMORROW? In this episode I was joined by two “activators” as I would call them: Anne-Claire Urvoas from the city of Brest where she is in charge of mobilisation for the energy transition and Alejandro Gomez who is energy project manager at Valencia Clima i Energia. They shared valuable insights on community-building and participation as a key enabler to advance the city’s transition towards climate neutrality.

This episode was brought to you by the EU project TOMORROW. Since 2019, TOMORROW is supporting 6 cities on their very participatory way towards a sustainable and fair future. The project gets funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme and you can go to the website citiesoftomorrow.eu to learn more and you can make use of great resources such as the TOMORROW transition toolbox. www.citiesoftomorrow.eu

Community-building around a transition roadmap: How do Brest and Valencia do that?

For this episode, our podcast host Miriam Eisermann sat down with Martin Mrkos, Mayor the City of Žďár nad Sázavou in Czech Republic. He is joined by Michal Bacovsky, who is Smart City Coordinator of Zdar. The city counts 21.000 inhabitants and is one of the 10 pilot cities involved in the EUCityCalc project. After intensive thermal insulation of its buildings and first renewable installations, the city is now exploring new pathways.

Michal and Martin tell us what these pathways are and how much the size of a city matters (or not).
More and more European cities have vowed to become climate-neutral by mid-century or even earlier. Only a few have managed yet to draft precise and tangible transition plans. 

The EUCityCalc project supports cities in data-driven decision-making: With funding from the EU Horizon 2020 program, the project will release the European City Calculator webtool. This is an open-source instrument with which cities can plan their measures to bring CO2 emissions down to zero.

Episode with Mayor and Smart City Coordinator of the City of Žďár nad Sázavou (Czech Republic)

For this episode we wanted to know what it needs to spark such initiatives, how we can bring more women into it and what all this has to do with taking risks.
That is why we invited Katharina Habersbrunner who is Head of sustainable energy and climate solutions at the non-profit network WECF, Women Engage for a Common Future. Katharina has an impressive record of community energy experience, and she has many very personal stories to tell about how diverse energy democracy is, both in Europe and in Africa.
Katharina works for Women Engage for A Common Future, a nonprofit network dedicated to a gender just and healthy planet for all. This international network consists of over 150 women’s and civil society organisations implementing projects in 50 countries.
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 www.sccale203050.eu.

Katharina Habersbrunner about gender justice in energy communities

Today’s guests will explore the question on how we can create a culture of energy citizenship. I sit together with two inspiring women: Dr BinBin Pearce who is researcher at TU Delft and Margot Vingerhoedt who is Head of communications, marketing and press for the Belgian cooperative Ecopower. While BinBin has been looking into the sociological dimension of collaboration using inputs from environmental science, Margot spends her everyday job life convincing Mr and Mrs Smith to plug themselves into the renewable energy cooperative and to play their part in the energy transition. Let’s see whether, together, we can map paths into a future where the individual and “the system” do interact much more.

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 www.sccale203050.eu.

Energy citizenship insights with Dr BinBin Pearce and Margot Vingerhoedt

If you’ve been following along with this podcast in the past months or more, you’ll know that we like to dig out local initiatives that might look small for now, but that can have a big impact in the future. For this episode, we picked one of them: the Economes, an awareness raising program on energy use - from citizens for citizens.

We meet Hugo and Julie who are both involved in it. Hugo Weisbecker is working for the French energy cooperative Enercoop. Julie Mayer is a cooperative member in her free time and researcher and assistant professor in her professional life.

In our conversation we set about defining the word “sufficiency” and why it matters so much. I started off with asking why it is so difficult most of us to change entrenched behaviors. Julie and Hugo do have a passionate and creative response to that. And: they convinced me that serious games are a fantastic way to change people’s mindset. And here we go with the episode - I think you’re really gonna love it!

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.

Sufficiency is a serious game

The Netherlands is one of the leading countries when it comes to an energy policy taking into account many different people and sectors. The Dutch National Climate Agreement from 2019 is the best example. So, to achieve its climate and energy goals, the country needs the highest possible involvement and public ownership of green energy, including for heating homes. 

Today’s episode brings together 2 Dutchmen whose work focus is on citizen participation in exactly this energy transition. Anatol Itten is Senior Policy Officer for the Dutch government's Ministry of Economy and Climate. with a focus on citizen participation policy. Siward Zomer leads the Dutch federation of energy cooperatives called Energiesamen. What can we learn from The Netherlands - especially on local cooperative heat - and what is still missing to better empower communities to take ownership and benefit from renewable energy production?

Our two interviewees gave their assessment of the energy community situation in The Netherlands: Even a frontrunner still has some missing pieces for a successful energy transition. 

We ended our conversation with a topic that could easily fill another episode: The lack of staff in local governments is, indeed, a huge problem across Europe. Last year, we at Energy Cities have conducted our own study, focusing on the staffing needs of administrations to decarbonise the built environment. As we need to close, I want you, dear listeners, to take some figures from this study with you: local administrations in Europe would need 214 000 new positions between now and 2030 for energy and climate missions. This represents around 2.5 additional full-time positions in each European municipality per year!
 
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 www.sccale203050.eu

Energy community in The Netherlands - Anatol Itten and Siward Zomer

Welcome to the small city of Porec on the west coast of Croatia. Porec has a rich history and culture with an old town nerved by narrow streets from Roman times. In the very city center, Venetian-style houses are sitting next to Roman temples, various gothic, baroque, and renaissance palaces, fortification walls, and towers. The town’s main sight is a Basilica dating from the 6th century. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With 3850 hours of sun per year, Porec is also an extremely sunny place. All this is what makes it one of the most visited towns in Croatia. 
So, how can you bring modern energy and climate standards into such a picturesque setting? Is rooftop PV compatible with heritage buildings and will citizens want that? Today, I chat with Gordana Lalic from the municipal company Parentium. She talks about their approach to developing an attractive city that combines historic richness with innovative energy projects.
Begining of February they opened the first "Solar Office", a one-stop-shop for citizens interested in solar energy. Gordana and her team are also creating a local energy community, which is a collaboration of the municipality, citizens and an energy cooperative.

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.

Combining historic richness with innovative energy projects

An energy cooperative never pops out of nowhere. Rather, it grows silently with motivated citizens putting their heads together and imagining how they can themselves produce renewable energy. Join me and my guest Chloé Verlinden to learn about some great ways for citizens to become energy producers, both on solar and offshore wind energy. Chloé explains the cooperative's activities with external partners. She also talks about how the cooperative is organised and how to protect cooperative volunteers from burnout. Chloé is co-founder of Brussels’ first energy cooperative called Brupower which operates in the Brussels Region.

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.

Episode with Chloé Verlinden, co-founder of Brussels' first energy cooperative Brupower

When a group of citizens or civil servants with no previous experience in financing starts a renewable energy project, this can be a huge challenge to go and look for funding. Whether it is for a solar installation or a collective retrofitting project, financing any of this is a black box for many of us. We thought we should delve into the jungle of financial engineering for energy communities today. But we also want to understand what this has changed for the traditional banking sector. 

I have two guests to guide us through some of the basics: how to get started, the different types of financing, how to make a bankable financial plan etc.  So we have Jim Williame from the Belgian citizen cooperative Ecopower and Ronald Korpershoek from Rabobank. Both know quite a bit about money and where a community-owned renewables project can find it.

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.

Episode on the financing of renewable energy projects

What is it like to be the young director of a capital city’s energy agency? I found some answers when talking with Janiks Ikaunieks. Janis leads the Riga Energy Agency in Latvia since 2 years. He told me how his agency is tackling the city’s challenges, which spots help him relax and why innovation is not always the first thing to do. Riga is known for its wooden buildings, art nouveau architecture and medieval Old Town. But the city leaders look towards the future: Riga is one of 10 pilot cities who are developing and implementing pathways and scenarios towards climate neutrality within the EUCityCalc project.

The EUCityCalc project supports cities in data-driven decision-making: With funding from the EU Horizon 2020 program, the project will release the European City Calculator webtool. This is an open-source instrument with which cities can plan their measures to bring CO2 emissions down to zero.

Episode with the Director of Riga's energy agency Janis Ikaunieks

In this episode we welcome Cristina Daniel who is the managing director of the regional energy agency ENA – Energy and Environment Agency of Arrábida in Portugal. ENA connects the dots between 3 municipalities that are located within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the agency helps those cities with their energy and environmental strategy. How is this meant to improve the lives of around 250.000 people living in the area? Cristina, who is currently doing a PhD on valuing ecosystem services, joins our podcast to share their recent work to cool down and carbon down the cities of Setubal, Palmela and Sesimbra.

The EUCityCalc project supports cities in data-driven decision-making: With funding from the EU Horizon 2020 program, the project will release the European City Calculator webtool. This is an open-source instrument with which cities can plan their measures to bring CO2 emissions down to zero.

Episode with Cristina Daniel from energy agency ENA (Portugal)

What do you think of when you hear Dijon? Mustard? Wine? Certainly not energy planning, right? 
Yes, Dijon is located in the famous Burgundy region and it is known for quite some delicious goods. But it’s good you’ve tuned in today: food and drinks are not the only thing in which this city and its surroundings excel. The Metropolitan area has also been recognised by the European Commission as a climate leader amongst 100 climate flagship cities. My guest today is Jean-Patrick Masson, Vice-President in charge of the energy transition in the area. He is one of the political drivers in his region as well as in the French political arena. My short talk with him opened some new thoughts on how important partnerships are and why it’s good to test things before scaling up. 

This episode, recorded in French and dubbed in English, has been funded by the H2020 EUCityCalc project.

EUCityCalc episode with Dijon's Vice-President Jean-Patrick Masson

Mise à part son excellence culinaire, la région métropolitaine a également été reconnue par la Commission européenne comme étant un leader climatique. Elle fait partie de 100 villes phares en matière de climat. 
Mon invité aujourd'hui est Jean-Patrick Masson, vice-président chargé de la transition énergétique à Dijon Métropole. Jean-Patrick est l'un des moteurs politiques de sa région et très actif aussi sur la scène politique nationale. Mon bref entretien avec lui m'a ouvert de nouvelles perspectives sur l'importance des partenariats et sur la nécessité de tester les choses avant de les dupliquer.
 
De plus en plus de villes européennes se sont engagées à atteindre la neutralité carbone d’ici le milieu du siècle, voire avant. Seules quelques-unes ont déjà réussi à élaborer des plans de transition concret et à les mettre en oeuvre. Le projet EUCityCalc aide les villes à prendre des décisions fondées sur des données : Grâce au financement du programme Horizon 2020 de l’UE, le projet publiera l’outil web European City Calculator. Il s’agit d’un instrument open-source avec lequel les villes peuvent planifier leurs mesures pour ramener les émissions de CO2 à zéro.
www.europeancitycalculator.eu

EN FRANCAIS - Entretien avec Jean-Patrick Masson, Vice-Président, Dijon Métropole

Mantova, West of Venice, is a beautiful city with a UNESCO protected core. Unfortunately, it is also surrounded by three artificial lakes that suffer from last century pollution. But the local administration is determined to give nature back to citizens both in and around the city centre. The city even already hosted the World Forum on Urban Forests!

In Mantova, the journey to carbon neutrality started with joining the Covenant of Mayors in 2013. For this episode I had a conversation with Adriana Nepote who is City Councillor in Mantova. In those past 10 years, much urban reactivation has happened notably through nature-based solutions and a series of very complementary actions. Adriana explains how to be visionary in a place marked by its past. How to make sure citizens see the big picture and the happier and healthier future that is being designed for them?

The EUCityCalc project supports cities in data-driven decision-making: With funding from the EU Horizon 2020 program, the project will release the European City Calculator webtool. This is an open-source instrument with which cities can plan their measures to bring CO2 emissions down to zero.

EUCityCalc Episode with Mantova's City Councillor Adriana Nepote

For this episode we traveled to Croatia: From Zagreb it takes between one and two hours by car to the much smaller towns of Koprivnica, Varazdin and Virovitica in the North-East of Croatia. It's in Koprivnica, a city of 30.000 inhabitants, where today’s guest Ivan Simic lives and works. Ivan is managing director of the regional energy agency REA North. The energy agency supports the three city councils which are working hard to build a green and prosperous future for their people. I chatted with Ivan about his current big planning mission of reviewing the cities' SEAPs. He also explained how communication with city leaders can be improved and why he wants citizens to get on a state aid rehab.

The EUCityCalc project supports cities in data-driven decision-making: With funding from the EU Horizon 2020 program, the project will release the European City Calculator webtool. This is an open-source instrument with which cities can plan their measures to bring CO2 emissions down to zero.
www.europeancitycalculator.eu

EUCityCalc episode with Ivan Simic, Managing Director of REA North in Croatia

He is an ultra-runner and an ultra-communicator. When Michal Svoboda talks to Mayors about new eneergy practices he demonstrates both, endurance and creativity. This Czechman who used to work for the leading big energy company is now a fervent advocate of local renewable energy. Michal is an energy consultant and involved in several municipal networks. He also participated in the recent creation of the very first Czech Union for energy communities. I’ve talked with him about the challenge to make sure renewables are not monopolized by large big investors, the changes it requires to initiate collective energy action in a post-communist country and in areas with a deeply entrenched coal culture.

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 episode about Czech energy transitions with Michal Svoboda, Sustainable Energy consultant

This episode is with Carlo Tacconelli. Carlo is an international energy expert and CEO of EnGreen, anItalian renewables start-up. Carlo has 16 years of experience in distributed renewable energy systems in Europe and in developing countries. Carlo shares some of that experience in this episode, with a special focus on the incredible power of energy communities.
We left our conversation with much optimism as Carlo talks about all the positive side effects energy communities can bring. We particularly enjoyed listening to him when he talked about the potential of a rural revival. As shared renewable energy is becoming more popular in villages and is creating jobs, we might be able to reverse the trend of rural communities hollowing out. Some people may decide to return to a rural, more self-sustaining life. Here is our conversation with a fantastic glimmer of hope!

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

SCCALE interview with Carlo Tacconelli from EnGreen

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

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

For this episode, we have met Alba del Campo. Alba is a Spanish journalist and activist fighting for more energy democracy. She is advisor to the local authority of Cadiz since 2015. A new local government was elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2019. Since then, the city opened the energy politics to its citizens. This was a first radical change and there are more to come. Alba explains why and how they managed to introduce a new political culture and to make affordable and sustainable energy such a key topic. Did the fact that Cadiz also hosts Electrica de Cadiz, Spain’s biggest local energy company, have an impact?

This episode of “City Stories” is brought to you by the EU project mPower. mPower explores how cities and citizens can manage the energy transition together - in a fair, clean and democratic way. Participation can happen at various stages: from involving citizens, local NGOs or businesses in the policy design to any stage of the energy value chain: for example as shareholders or even prosumers.
The mPower project gets funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme.

Go to the website municipalpower.org to learn more about mPower.
And don’t forget to regularly check out Energy Cities website energy dash cities dot eu. We provide you with political updates and great stories around the energy transition in Europe.

Episode with Alba del Campo from Cadiz

In this episode we want to understand how a very young energy community in Strasburg, in the North-East of France, came into being. Where did it all begin with this cooperative called the Brasseurs d’Energie (which means Energy Brewers)? What role did the city council play? And how challenging was the cooperation between citizens and the administration? Jacqui Cullen, an Irish-born cooperative member and Gerard Pol Gili, a Spaniard who heads the renewables department of Strasburg Metropolitan area will tell the story.

This episode was recorded via internet. It is part of “City Stories” which is brought to you by the EU project. mPower explores how cities and citizens can manage the energy transition together – in a fair, clean and democratic way. Participation can happen at various stages: from involving citizens, local NGOs or businesses in the policy design to any stage of the energy value chain: for example as shareholders or even prosumers. The mPower project gets funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme.

Episode with Jacqui Cullen and Gerard Pol Gili about Strasburg's first energy community

Since almost 20 years the region of Navarra in the North of Spain pioneers with wind and more and more with solar energy. Now, building an energy community with the regional capital Pamplona as a partner means getting to the next level. This energy community is part of the local government’s climate change strategy for 2030.  I wanted to gain a very personal and honest insight into the creation process. And so I’ve invited Juan Eguidazu and Javier Zardoya. One is a cooperative member and the other is working in the city energy agency. 1 story, two perspectives.

Juan and Javier took part in the ECF Collaboration Lab on October 2020 together with delegates from Pamplona and Modena. 
European Climate Foundation </a>(ECF) is an international non-profit organization whose  aims are to promote climate and energy policies that reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas  emissions and help Europe play a stronger international leadership role in mitigating  climate change.

This episode was recorded via internet. It is part of “City Stories” which is brought to you by the EU project. mPower explores how cities and citizens can manage the energy transition together – in a fair, clean and democratic way. Participation can happen at various stages: from involving citizens, local NGOs or businesses in the policy design to any stage of the energy value chain: for example as shareholders or even prosumers. The mPower project gets funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme.

Episode with Juan Eguidazu and Javier Zardoya from Pamplona about renewables and Covid

We have interviewed two amazing women and we have talked with them about the right political triggers for renewables in Italy, about the place of women in the sector and I even learned during our conversation what ethical energy means. 

Our interviewees were Sara and Claudia: Sara Capuzzo is the President of enostra, which is a major Italian renewables cooperative. And for a new energy community project she has recently teamed up with Claudia Carani who works as a senior expert in Modena for the Energy and Sustainable Development Agency. During the interview, Sara and Claudia described Modena’s renewables targets and explained to me how the next energy community will contribute to all this. Get a good Italian coffee and enjoy listening.

Sara and Claudia took part in the ECF Collaboration Lab on October 2020 together with delegates from Pamplona and Strasburg.
European Climate Foundation (ECF) is an international non-profit organization whose aims are to promote climate and energy policies that reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and help Europe play a stronger international leadership role in mitigating climate change.

This episode was recorded via internet. It is part of “City Stories” which is brought to you by the EU project. mPower explores how cities and citizens can manage the energy transition together – in a fair, clean and democratic way. Participation can happen at various stages: from involving citizens, local NGOs or businesses in the policy design to any stage of the energy value chain: for example as shareholders or even prosumers. The mPower project gets funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme.

Episode with Sara Capuzzo and Claudia Carani  from Modena about local energy communities

2020 was a tough year and never before has the need for local resilience and solidarity been stronger. One extraordinary means for increasing solidarity while making places stronger are renewable energy communities. Since recently renewable energy communities are legally defined and protected by EU legislation. “Community energy” or “community power” refers to people in a community cooperating on energy issues. This can include cooperatives, companies with a community interest, foundations, or also local authorities. 

In October, we have brought together 3 cities and their civil society representatives from three different European countries: Pamplona in Spain, Strasburg in France and Modena in Italy. All three cities are at different stages of experience and development of an energy community. Strasburg helped an energy cooperative to come to life in the past 18 months. Modena already experimented with small energy communities and will now start one together with Italy’s big citizen energy cooperative enostra. And, lastly, Pamplona is probably the most junior in the field. They just start reaching out to citizens now and work on a joint project with the regional cooperative E+P. 

All of them came together during a Cooperation Lab that Energy Cities organised in October 2020 thanks to funding from the European Climate Foundation. 

What role does the city council play in an energy community? And how challenging is the cooperation between citizens and the administration? Let’s hear what the lab participants have to say. Listen to Claudia and Sara from Modena, Juan and Javier from Pamplona and Jaqui and Gerard from Strasburg.

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. https://europeanclimate.org

The ECF collaboration lab episode: community energy from scratch

The energy and climate challenge is so big that it requires everybody to be involved. New ways of communicating are needed. What are the best means to shape new narratives and, in the end, to make people want to engage in changing the energy system? In this episode we talked with Laura Williams and Britt Jurgensen from CarbonCoop: one is a trained theatre practitioner, the other a political activist. Can we empower people more easily by merging art and activism? 

This episode was recorded via internet. It is part of “City Stories” which is brought to you by the EU project. mPower explores how cities and citizens can manage the energy transition together – in a fair, clean and democratic way. Participation can happen at various stages: from involving citizens, local NGOs or businesses in the policy design to any stage of the energy value chain: for example as shareholders or even prosumers. The mPower project gets funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme.

Episode about new narratives - with Britt and Laura from Carbon Coop

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

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