The energy crisis is related to many factors, such as low energy reserves, rising production costs, and climate change. As a result, more and more cities and communities are now looking for alternative, sustainable energy solutions. Krakow is also facing these challenges. Therefore, it has taken the initiative to create an effective, sustainable and participatory energy system that will allow to reduce the negative effects of the energy crisis. As part of the ATELIER project was carried out activity “Opportunities for the Creation of Energy Communities in Krakow”. Additionally, the activity was created in response to Recommendation No. 13 of the Krakow Climate Panel, which was adopted in the following wording: “Preparation and implementation, after the introduction of appropriate legal regulations, of a pilot project of an energy community in Krakow, together with the proposal of areas for its establishment, analysis of benefits, costs and limitations, and conducting an information campaign.”
The first stage of activity was a series of workshops on energy communities organized by the Krakow City Hall. Representatives of housing cooperatives and communities, residents as well as administrators of public buildings took part in the workshops.
The outcome of the workshops is the Report “Krakow Civic Energy”. The report is complemented by several detailed examples based on the developed analyses of the profitability of investments in renewable energy installations implemented using energy community models.
The “Krakow Civic Energy” Report is a guide for people interested in active participation in the local energy transformation process. The report is the result of extensive consultations with representatives of various stakeholder groups: residents, managers of housing cooperatives and communities, managers of local social activity facilities, as well as companies and municipal units.
The presented solutions and models of energy communities take into account the currently applicable legal regulations that apply to the city area, but are also adapted to the changes that will soon come into force.
The participation of such a wide range of stakeholders resulted in the development of solutions based on the following:
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Collective prosumer model
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Tenant prosumer model
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Individual prosumer model
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Energy cluster
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Citizen energy community.
The report provides guidance on how to create an energy community in each of these models, as well as an idea for a cluster and information on where to get funding for investments. It also presents detailed analyses of selected cases, such as multi-family buildings and nurseries (including profitability analyses for selected parameters and assuming different scenarios of changes in energy markets).
This article was originally published in Polish on the website of ATELIER Fellow City Krakow: Społeczności energetyczne – Magiczny Kraków (www.krakow.pl)
Picture credits: Gosia Zmysłowska