The first solar park funded, created and managed by citizens

Brut America

Solar energy produced for the citizens, by the citizens. This is what this ambitious French cooperative focuses on.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to this first photovoltaic park, financed, created and managed by citizens.

00:17There was a big fight here against shale gas, which was victorious.

00:21At the end of the fight, people said to themselves,

00:23it would be good if we fought for something rather than against it,

00:26and the idea of this photovoltaic park came up.

00:28I live in Aube and I was motivated to participate in this collective project.

00:32I invested 500 euros in the project of the photovoltaic park in Aube.

00:36We have subscribed in our family 4 shares for this project.

00:40The idea was really to finance a local project,

00:42so to have subscribers who are from the village or the surrounding area,

00:45who have subscribed in general with shares of 100 to 500 euros.

00:48All this with a big thumbs up from the region,

00:50allowed us to carry out a project without any bank euro,

00:53we did not make a bank loan at all, and here is the result.

00:58The photovoltaic park in Aube

01:09Here we have an ondulator that recovers all the electricity produced by these panels.

01:13In total, we produce 380 MWh per year in the park,

01:16which corresponds to the consumption of about 280 people without heating.

01:20Here we have the general table that recovers the 11 ondulators

01:24and sends all the electricity into the network.

01:26This electricity is sold to Enercop,

01:29which is a cooperative electricity provider and 100% renewable.

01:32It is a satisfaction to see that the park has succeeded in being concretized

01:36and to see that it works.

01:37The park was put into service in 2018,

01:39and in 2019 we had our first interest rate.

01:42It's pretty funny because we see that our money is used because the park exists

01:46and in addition we have a remuneration on our bank account.

01:49All those who have put a little money in this park

01:51recover a small interest rate of about 3% every year for the moment.

01:55And this is a decision that is taken in the General Assembly.

01:58The General Assemblies take place with one person equals one way,

02:01whatever the amount we have subscribed at the start.

02:03And all the decisions are taken in the General Assembly.

02:05It is really the citizens who govern.

02:07The fact of having put the citizens in the loop from the start of this project

02:10has added environmental and social requirements to the specifications,

02:13which means that the panels, for example,

02:15have been chosen for their technical quality, of course,

02:17but also because they are made by a company that is in Toulouse.

02:20Another aspect that was very important for the project

02:22was to build this park on a land that is an old municipal landfill.

02:27So a land that is neither buildable nor cultivable,

02:30so which is really dead and to which we give back value.

02:33And for example, you have bins here that hold the panels

02:38and these bins are fully disassembled.

02:40This means that at the end of the project, with a few screwdrivers,

02:43the entire park can be dismantled to go to recycling sites.

02:52Energy sharing

02:58Hello Antoine.

02:59Hi Alenka.

03:01How are you?

03:02I'm fine, and you?

03:03I'm fine.

03:04Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.

03:05It's going well?

03:06It's going well.

03:07A lot of sun at the beginning of 2019, so we're happy.

03:10Energy sharing is a national investment fund

03:12that collects individual investments from people

03:15who want to invest in renewable energies

03:17and then redistributes this money to local projects.

03:20And I think it was a great opportunity for us to have this

03:24because we knew that from the start,

03:26whatever the citizen contributions that we would have locally at Oubé,

03:30Energy Sharing would be there to bring the complement and finalize the project.

03:33This energy transition is essential today.

03:36We must be able to extract fossil and fossil fuels.

03:39So that means deploying photovoltaic power plants,

03:43wind farms, hydraulic power plants, energy wood projects.

03:48What we say at Energy Sharing, however,

03:50is that this change of model must be made from the bottom up,

03:53by the territories, for the territories.

03:55That's why we are pushing for the creation of local cooperatives

03:58on all territories.

03:59If you have a little time, you can simply join

04:01the nearest citizen cooperative.

04:03And if you don't have much time, but a little savings to make,

04:06you can put them in the investment tool Energy Sharing Investment,

04:10which is the national tool that helps all these citizen cooperatives in France.

04:17Energy Sharing Investment

04:19Energy Sharing Investment

04:21Energy Sharing Investment

04:23Energy Sharing Investment

04:25In AG, we decided that we still needed €5,000 on the bank account.

04:29And we're going to invest €20,000 at Energy Sharing.

04:32The ecological transition is important to me

04:35because the state doesn't seem to be moving at all.

04:37If we start doing this, it will give people other ideas

04:39and people will grow.

04:41It will have a snowball effect, I think.

04:43There are lots of projects around us that are built on small photovoltaic roofs.

04:46Why not?

04:47We are in a region where there is a lot of sun.

04:49Let's use it.

04:50It has already created a lot of links.

04:52Then it has allowed people to train, to learn a lot of things.

04:55And above all, it was the starting point

04:58to make a short circuit of energy

05:00that contributes to the ecological transition.

05:02The environmental crisis that threatens us,

05:04in a way, puts us in a state of sideration.

05:06It's true that we wonder what we can do

05:08in the face of a phenomenon that is so huge, so global.

05:10And finally, this type of project

05:12has the virtue of saying to ourselves

05:14we get up in the morning and all together,

05:16in our collective, we are going to do things

05:18and we are going to have a real impact

05:20on the ecological transition

05:22and therefore on the world that we are going to leave to our children.

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