Citizen energy collectives work towards resilient society

The nearly 700 energy cooperatives in the Netherlands realised 10% more solar power last year, started 23 heat projects and are working on new cooperative wind power. At the same time, the growth in the number of projects is levelling off. Meanwhile, cooperatives, together with a growing number of residents' initiatives, play an important role in the resilience of our society. They are increasingly professionalising, helping households save energy and providing support for energy poverty. They also focus on social issues such as education or nature restoration.

The eleventh Local Energy Monitor by Climate Foundation HERE shows that the 696 local energy cooperatives now provide power for half a million households. It is estimated that over 143,000 citizens are members of an energy cooperative. Together with other resident energy initiatives, these citizen energy collectives create more than 200 jobs and have more than 9,000 volunteers. These are shaping the energy transition in their own neighbourhood, village or municipality.

Citizen energy collectives fulfil social role

Citizen energy collectives are increasingly professionalising and working on more and more issues. For example, energy cooperative Delta21 is collaborating on a plan for a 20km2 fall lake where water safety, renewable energy and nature restoration come together. Residents' initiatives are mainly concerned with conservation activities, but they are doing more. Rotterdam-based Pauw Foundation, for example, is making an effort to promote the independence of women without a diploma. The women are trained as environmental coaches and then help fellow residents save energy.

“Citizen energy collectives work on community spirit and are a force in society that we desperately need in our country” says Gijs Termeer, director of Climate Foundation HERE. “They deserve support because they make our society more resilient. By helping citizens save energy and by generating, storing and delivering their own energy locally at a stable and fair price. And by connecting these activities to other social tasks.”

More and more energy saving activities

TNO concludes in recent research that energy assistance, such as coaches and fixers, leads to a marked decrease in gas and electricity consumption among households. Citizen energy collectives also contribute to this. Of 437 collectives with energy saving activities, most common activities are energy coaching, organising information meetings and providing information via a website. In addition, about a third of the collectives support residents in applying for subsidies. Almost one in three collectives also target households in energy poverty.

Electricity and heat for households

A total of 1,425 cooperative solar projects have been realised by 487 energy cooperatives since 2008. In 2025, 66 solar projects were added. All solar projects together provide power for about 160,000 households. Negative prices, higher operational costs and too little subsidy income sometimes lead to a poor financial situation for energy cooperatives with solar projects. EnergieSamen, Windunie, om | new energy and Energie Van Ons have set up a crisis team to support these projects.

No new cooperative wind projects were put into production in 2025. Development sites remain scarce, grid congestion is an increasing problem and there is a lack of social and political support. However, 45.2 MW of new cooperative wind capacity is expected over the next two to three years.

Meanwhile, 106 collective heat projects are active, some 40 of which have the explicit goal of residents becoming co-owners of the heat system. Collectively, these projects expect to achieve more than 30,000 connections.

Source: Here.now