Making wind power profitable: civic participation in Germany and France German utility companies rely on wind power Direct civic participation in the municipal utility company – democratization of the turnaround in energy policy Martin Rühl Managing Director of the Stadtwerke Wolfhagen GmbH and the SUN Stadtwerke Union Nordhessen GmbH & Co. KG Paris, July 03, 2014 Stadtwerke Wolfhagen GmbH • municipal utilities company in Northern Hesse • water and electricity for 13,500 citizens • since 2012: 75% owned by the city of Wolfhagen + 25% owned by the BürgerEnergieGenossenschaft (a civic energy cooperative) 2008: Decision of the city council Overall goal: generation of 100 % of the annual energy needs in the grid area from renewable energy Course-setting conditions • democratic participation in decision-making on orientation of the utilities company Stadtwerke Wolfhagen GmbH 25% 75% Civic Energy City of Wolfhagen Cooperative Supervisory Board = 9 members 1 seat 2 seats 6 seats Works Council BEG City SWW PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTONOMOUS ENERGY SUPPLY 5 Increase in renewable power production DevelopmentEntwicklung of renewable der regenerativen energy generation Erzeugung 60.000 KWKKWK 50.000 Biomassebiomass 40.000 PV a PV / h 30.000 Windwind W M 20.000 10.000 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 yearJahr Electricity from wind power Wind farm Wolfhagen - four wind power stations under construction, each with a capacity of 3 MW Visualization Electricity from wind power Wind farm Wolfhagen - four wind power stations under construction, each with a capacity of 3 MW • first concept of participation = civic wind farm • but: GmbH & Co. KG or other company types are too complicated for broad civic participation • solution: cooperative • project management – Stadtwerke Wolfhagen • supported by WPD, sponsorships AFFECTED PERSONS TURN INTO PARTICIPANTS PARTICIPATION OF A CIVIC COOPERATIVE IN THE STADTWERKE WOLFHAGEN BürgerEnergieGenossenschaft Wolfhagen (Civic Energy Cooperative Wolfhagen) 10 The consistent path to the turnaround in energy policy at regional level associate / shareholder joint decision-making in BEG citizen / citizen / locally affected electricity person consumer From the idea to foundation • 2nd half of 2010: idea of cooperative - explanation and voting in the supervisory board of the Stadtwerke Wolfhagen GmbH and all city committees 2 persons who are „infected“ by the idea become project developers for energy cooperatives • March 2011: 2 information events - each visited by 300 interested persons - 1st working session (bylaws committee, preliminary energy advisory board, foundation members) From the idea to foundation • January 2012: 176 interested persons reserve 1.654 shares City council approves articles of association and cooperation agreement • February 2012: candidates for supervisory board, executive board and energy advisory board form working groups • March 28, 2012: foundation of the BürgerEnergieGenossenschaft (264 members, more than 800,000.00 €) Reasons to become a member of the BEG: • small cooperative shares • broad distribution of the shares • not dominated by major investors • 1 share certificate = 500 € max 40 shares per member = 20.000 € one person = one vote Reasons to become a member of the BEG: • Members benefit in several ways – participation in creating the turnaround in energy policy – co-determination of the orientation of the own energy supplier – dividend of up to 6% – benefits from the energy saving fund Members - as of February 2014 more than 700 Cash flow within the BEG pay in members of the BEG cooperative assets the first beyond the first 2.3 million euro 2.3 m. euro 25% participation own renewable (SWW invest e.g. in solar park, wind farm …) energy projects euro general assembly distribution per unit energy efficiency fund Course-setting conditions • Energy saving promotion by the city of Wolfhagen Yields Yields Yields Yields water energy gas new energies supply supply supply - wind - solar - biomass Stadtwerke Wolfhagen GmbH distribution distribution share 25% share 75% Cooperative City distribution per Cooperative share certificate energy saving fund (max. 6%) = promotion of energy saving for all members BENEFITS Benefits for the BEG / the citizens • participation in a well-positioned company • co-determination and participation in decision- making and projects • your opinion on projects is being taken seriously • take responsibility and create the turnaround in energy policy on a regional level • participation in regional investments • participation in relatively safe yield returns Benefits for the municipal owner / the utilities company • more customer loyalty for the utility company + yields for the city • possibility of building and running lucrative renewable energy projects without new equity • the city receives only 3/4 of the cake - but from a significantly bigger one Benefits for the utilities company • early civic involvement promotes a broad public acceptance • commitment to the utilities company - only energy customers can become members • contribution of new capital from the BEG - for the implementation of renewable energy projects ONLY TOGETHER CAN WE ACHIEVE THE TURNAROUND IN ENERGY POLICY SUN - Stadtwerke Union Nordhessen Members of the StadtwerkeUnionNordhessen (Union of Municipal Utility Companies in Northern Hesse) • Stadtwerke Bad Sooden-Allendorf • Stadtwerke Eschwege • Kraftstrom-Bezugsgenossenschaft Homberg • Städtische Werke Kassel • Stadtwerke Wolfhagen • Stadtwerke Witzenhausen Sustainable and clean energy for approx. 730,000 citizens • surface area = approx. 4,000 km2 • power requirement = approx. 3.6 TWh/a • expenditures for electricity = 500 to 600 million € /a *data on power requirement projected Landkreis = rural district of… Kreisfreie Stadt = county borough of… Einwohner = citizens 2025: wind, sun, biomass + gas-fired power plants • more than 60% wind 13% remaining electricity from the upstream grid power 8% gas turbine power plants • 85% renewable energies from the region 5% biomas 60% wind power • regional power generation 14% photovoltaics from gas-fired power plants and import of supplementary electricity from other regions Regional value added This outflow of funds from the Up to 300 million € can be region for electricity procurement retained in the area by regional can be limited! energy generation. value creation through regional power generation power generation & trans-regional power transport (outflow of funds from the region) We do want to develop the projects, but we don't want to dominate them. From the SUN-Codex: "SUN members appreciate a participation of regional civic 25.1% SUN-Stadtwerke corporations (e.g. cooperatives) or municipalities, while the own 74.9% proportion of SUN members has cooperatives, municipalities etc. from the region to be only at least 25.1% in the future corporation. This makes up to 74.9% of the shares available for public participation in case of strong municipal interest." We need to decide what we want our future to look like: Electricity transport and further centralisation or decentralized renewable energies Picture credits: Graensel und Hetel Picture credits: Jules Tschie Many thanks for your attention! Martin Rühl Stadtwerke Wolfhagen GmbH Siemensstraße 10 34466 Wolfhagen [email protected] www.stadtwerke-wolfhagen.de.