In the context of the Up-Stairs project, AMB has developed a model of 36 One-Stop-Shops (OSS), one for each metropolitan municipality, in order to support the creation of energy communities. Public workers are hired by municipalities to drive the energy transition through energy communities. They provide the OSS service as Implementation Champions. Following the preparation process, 3 municipalities have launched their own OSS, providing support for citizens and responding to an average of 30 questions every month.
The AMB OSSs are focused on the creation of energy communities by supporting the installation of renewable energy systems.
Digital Platform of Barcelona Metropolitan Area (in Catalan language)
The concept of self-consumption has been introduced in the Spanish legislation through the Royal Decree 244/2019, which derives from the Royal Decree-Law 15/2018. The purpose of the 244/2019 Decree is to promote the self-consumption of renewable energy by introducing proper regulations within the sector and establishing the framework for the energy supply to the electricity grid, including the economic compensations that are applicable to considered schemes. The Decree provides means for the authorisation of the self-consumption for groups of people and simplifies the regulatory process relevant for small-scale energy producers.
The Royal Decree-Law 23/2020 approves energy-related and other measures to reactivate the economy, refers to the utilisation of renewable sources from renewable energy communities (RECs) - alluding to the EU definition - and commits to consider the particularities of RECs with the aim of increasing the participation of local citizens and other actors in community-based projects based on renewable energy.
A limitation of the current legislation is that is allows electricity sharing only according to static allocation coefficients. This means that the coefficients employed throughout all the hours of the year cannot be changed to follow the varying demands of the group members. A new legislation is expected to enable variable coefficients. The profitability of local energy communities in terms of energy savings and reduction of the payback time depends on both tariff regulation and the use of the variable coefficients for electricity sharing.
In this regulatory context, supporting citizen renewable energy initiatives that strive for a greener energy mix is key.
The fist OSS officially opened in May 2022. Since then, 2 more OSSs were launched. These 3 OSSs are in the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Sant Boi de llobregat and Viladecans.
A training programme is provided to de Implementation Champions present in the OSSs. Thanks to the support provided by the Town Councils, the OSSs started supporting citizen initiatives before the training programme was completed.
Activities carried out in the context of Up-Stairs are the following:
Launching a communication campaign
