JALON participates in the 1st UNEF Energy Communities Summit
Near the end of April we participated in the 1st UNEF Energy Communities Summit, where Piet Holtrop had the opportunity to present the JALON project.
Specifically he was at the table:
– Promoting an Energy Community in rural areas: barriers and opportunities.
About his participation he said:
“Our table consisted of a series of presentations of different projects of Renewable Energy Communities in Spain and Portugal.
The first presentation was given by Santiago Martínez, from Energía del Pallars Jussà, a REC in the Catalan Pyrenees area. His experience was diminished by the lack of agility of the local administrations.
The next experience was told by Alexis Agramunt, the founder of the Energy Community Els Valentins, from the village Comenval. Alexis is also the mayor of the town in question and presented us with a good example of the positive role that local administration can play.
The third presentation was given by me, Piet Holtrop, Attorney at Law at Holtrop Legal in Energy Transition – as a Partner of the European JALON Project. I focused my explanation on the importance of obtaining a critical mass in the rural environment at demographic risk. I highlighted the Grass Roots character of Cerca as a local Cooperative, whose founders sought help from the JALON project partners.
I insisted that it was one of the reasons why this project obtained the maximum score in its LIFE framework. In this sense, I highlighted JALON as a project that really unites the importance of participation of both citizens on the street, mayors, and local administration in general. I also emphasized the meetings last March 13 and 14 in Brussels, where the binomial Subject (REC) and activity (Self-consumption), and the challenges that this entails, was clearly outlined. I discussed it in depth during the presentation, and also on the sidelines, with the attendees of the Summit.
Lorena Torres, the Vice President of EnVerde – Proyecto, which is a germinator of Energy Communities for Extremadura, both for rural and urban areas. It aims to promote a sustainable and socially just energy transition. She explained that it is an initiative created by EnVerde, an Extremaduran cooperative of renewable energy consumers, in response to the solution of the RIPEET project in Extremadura.
José Luis Pascual, General Manager of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation Duero – Douro (EGTC Duero – Douro) ended our table with a very passionate explanation telling how they took back the control of their energy in a cross-border way, without fear of being vindictive against the power of dominant electric companies.
We will have the opportunity to update on many topics, a particularly interesting topic is the transposition of the renewables directive in this area, during the contractors meeting of the LIFE Clean Energy Transition Programme”.
