«Village Photovoltaic Plants» Involving a rural community in producing their own renewable energy

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1 «Village Photovoltaic Plants» Involving a rural community in producing their own renewable energy

2 Summary Website Video

3 In a nutshell: The Rhône-Alpes Region spans across 43,698 km², corresponding to 8% of France s total surface area 6,400,000 inhabitants 2,879 municipalities 8 Départements [similar to Counties] 3 urban areas: Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Grenoble 365,000 economic activity sites 80,000 active associations. Rhône-Alpes is the first French region in terms of energy production. Landscape 2 national natural parks 7 regional natural parks, covering 15% of the region s territory 3 mountain ranges: Jura, Alps, Massif Central; 7,000 km of water courses. More info here

4 Context and rational The common way of producing photovoltaic electric energy does not involve the local community and territory development. Photovoltaic systems may even in some cases also impact agricultural lands and the landscape. In 2010, Rhônalpénergie-Environnement (RAEE) collaborating with Les Parcs Naturels Régionaux conceived the Centrales Villgeoises Photovoltaïques ( Village Photovoltaic Plants ) project. It aims to fight climate change and energy dependency though experimenting an alternative model to common photovoltaic energy production: photovoltaic systems managed by the local community and fitting with the rural context. The project envisages: a local process to make citizens aware of their needs and of making better use of local energy resources. mobilization of inhabitants to build an entreprise collective («citizen company») for the production of local renewable energy and with the aim of launching further RES projects in the territory. a local production of renewable energy closer to the consumer by equipping roofs with solar panels in one or more villages. The biggest challenge is to convince numerous citizens to join the initiative and take part all through the implementation of the project. Five Regional Parks have been identified as areas for pilot projects: Parc du Pilat, Parc du Massif des Baurges, Parc des Monts d Ardèche, Parc du Vercors, and Région de Rosans. The goal of the experimentation is to install on private and public roofs, in each of these five locations, a photovoltaic plant of a size between 500 and 2000 m² approximately (equivalent to 70 to 250 kwp). Description The Village Photovoltaic Plants project features four actions : Promote activities on energy issues throughout Natural Parks in order to motivate the local community to devise a photovoltaic installation project in their village. Support collaboration between experts and inhabitants on architectural, landscape, technical and financial aspects. Explore legal or technical existing tools to adapt them to innovative community projects. Search for financial long-term solutions and identify legal systems to involve public, private, and local actors.

5 Main results and success case The citizens have persistently been participating in the initiatives since Through the pilot projects in the above mentioned Regional Parks, a model of Village Photovoltaic Plants process has been established: An essential component of the success of the project are the technical and landscape studies developed by the working group during at the beginning of the project. The working group is composed of public actors, photovoltaic experts, and inhabitants. The studies consist in identifying the appropriate roofs to hold the photovoltaic panels (according to solar exposition, inclination etc.), meeting the roof owners and making first quantitative estimates (kwh needs, number and size of panels etc.) To create an entreprise collective («cooperative company»), two legal systems have been identified : SAS (Société par Action Simplifiée) is a company simple to create: the legal tool is apt for citizen projects since the Statutes are fully determined by the creator. It sets the corporate governance. Moreover, a SAS is a company whose capital can be variable and to found it, share capital is not compulsory. Between December 2012 and September 2013, five SAS were created. SCIC (Société Coopérative d'investissement Collectif) is a company in which collective interest prevails and it enables the participation of the community to the corporate governance capital (up to 20%).

6 Success case: SAS Centrales Villageoises de la Region de Condrieu. The first Village Photovoltaic Plant Location Pilat Park Condrieu Region The municipality of Les Haies Description Between in Condrieu Region, various public debates took place. The goal was to involve the local population in devising a photovoltaic installation project, in particular to define where to locate the installations. Four kinds of studies were made: typology of the bourg (rural agglomeration), the landscape, technical investigation (roof inclination, exposure to the sun), and architectural evaluations. To lead the project, in 2013, the citizen company SAS Centrales Villageoises de la Region de Condrieu (CVRC) was created. Its president is Hervé Cuilleron supported by a Management Board (9 members) and 166 shareholders (inhabitants of the Condrieu Region, two associations, and one enterprise). In January 2014, the CVRC Management Board chose the installer. In February, about 100 shareholders participated in the General Assembly of the CVRC; on the basis of studies and by unanimous vote, it was decided to launch the operational realization of the PV plants in the municipality of Les Haies. Between May and July photovoltaic systems were installed. Local municipalities and project stakeholders inaugurated the plant on 18 October The plant consists of 523 m² (8 roofs), 76 kwc, 85,3 MWh/an.

7 Contact Rhônalpénergie - Environnement Dominique JACQUES Noémie POIZE dominique.jacques@raee.org noemie.poize@raee.org in collaboration with : Parc Natural régional des Monts d Ardèche, Parc Natural régional Baronnies Provençales, Parc Naturel Régional du Massif des Bauges, Parc naturel régional de Chartreuse, Parc Natural régional du Haut-Jura, Parc naturel régional Livradois-Forez, Parc Naturel régional du Pilat, Parc Naturel régional du Vercors, Communauté d Agglomération Privas Centre Ardèche, Communauté de Communes de la Région de Condrieu, La Communauté de Communes du Massif du Vercors, Communauté des Communes du Vercors, Trieves, Rosanais Hautes Alpes, Chambéry Métropole, Les Conseils d'architecture, d'urbanisme et d'environnement, le réseau IERA, L'AGEDEN, L'ASDER, L'ADIL26 et HESPUL, Le centre permanent d'initiatives pour l'environnement du Parc du Vercors, Energie partagée, ERDF, SIEL- public inter-municipal energy distribution service operator, Axenne, Cythelia, Enersun, Talev, Kalice. and support from: European Union, Région Rhône-Alpes, Le Conseil Général de la Drôme, Rhônalpénergie-Environnement. More info on the partners involved here.