To begin with, here is an example of local ownership from our own practice: Zon op Alphen. In 2018, around 170 residents of our municipality and several companies/organisations invested via a so-called postcode lottery scheme in the construction of three solar roofs. Since April 2019, more than two thousand solar panels have been installed at Rijnvicus (via 1,015 certificates of 250 kWh/year) and Zeegersloot Golf Club (229 certificates). The approximately 4,000 MWh of sustainable energy generated by these panels is sold to energy companies. The proceeds benefit the participants of Zon op Alphen.

The establishment of these postcode lottery projects was an initiative of Energiek Alphen aan den Rijn, which set up the Zon op Alphen cooperative for this purpose. Similar solar and wind projects have been realised throughout the country and elsewhere in Europe, in which participants jointly and on a non-profit basis – with democratic control among the members – carry out energy projects. There are more than 4,000 such cooperatives active in Europe, including more than 700 with over 150,000 members in the Netherlands (source: Local4Local/Energy Together).

Public supplier

Projects such as Zon op Alphen introduced local ownership to the energy sector. In a relatively short period of time, local energy cooperatives have grown into serious public suppliers of sustainable solar and wind power on the energy market. The importance of this for the energy transition was underlined in the 2019 Climate Agreement, in which the government included the target of ‘50 per cent local ownership of production in renewable energy projects by 2030’.

The government remains committed to this goal, as local ownership contributes to equal cooperation between market parties and the local community. It is no longer just the government and commercial energy companies that have a say. Solar and wind installations owned by residents and businesses in the locality or region have become an important player. This illustrates the clear trend in which energy users (consumers, organisations, businesses, the local community) are playing a greater role in the energy system. Since 2019, Energiek Alphen has also wanted to make agreements with owners of roofs and (agricultural) land for new solar roofs or fields. This is proving to be quite difficult, but we are still working on a few initiatives.

Energetic Alphen and local ownership

What does Energiek Alphen consider local ownership to be? Local ownership means that the residents themselves are joint owners; they decide together where and how a solar or wind installation will look, they operate the installation together in an energy community, and they decide together whether the profits will be invested (for example, in a neighbourhood battery) and/or used to reduce the price of their own electricity by a few pence. Being in charge together in the energy community creates support for accepting limited nuisance from, for example, new solar fields and wind turbines.

Self-delivery+

Another important element of local ownership is that, under the new Energy Act, residents, organisations and businesses can supply electricity to each other via an energy company, such as the cooperative. to | new energy. So if you have surplus electricity that you don't use yourself, you can sell it to your neighbours, an association or a company. This is called: Self-supply+. Since this year (2025), companies have been allowed to supply electricity to each other, and consumers will probably be allowed to do so from next year as well. ‘

In other words, if residents, organisations and businesses that together form an energy community invest in their own solar field or purchase wind energy, they can jointly agree on the price that the customer pays. Without profit, only the costs need to be covered, so the selling price of the electricity can be just a few pence lower.

Within an energy community, participants generate their own sustainable electricity (solar and wind) and also supply electricity to each other. The share of electricity generated by the community is steadily increasing. Energiek Alphen aan de Rijn is also very active on this front at the moment, for example with the Gemeenschap in Balans (Glanskern) Benthuizen project.

In Glanskern Benthuizen Since 2023, we have been working with the Benthuizen Village Council on the concrete construction of this energy community. At present (spring 2025), electricity consumption and generation are being measured at seven locations, and calculations are being made to determine how much electricity the participants (residents, organisations, associations and businesses) can share. Our estimate is that, to begin with, they can share around 40 per cent of their combined consumption. As more and more residents, organisations and businesses join the community, this could rise to as much as 90 per cent, thanks to smart investment and good management of energy consumption. The participants in the energy community will then be under a ‘bell jar’, as it were, which will only require 10 per cent of the electricity from the national grid and thus prevent grid congestion.

This will make Benthuizen a Glanskern that decides on its own energy. This is also possible in other neighbourhoods and village centres in the municipality! With the Hazerswoude-Rijndijk Oost Village Council, we are already taking the first steps this year with the organisation of four Energy evenings for residents of this neighbourhood.