We are delighted to have reached another milestone in our Energy WITH Spirit project: the Energy WITH Spirit Bad Goisern Solidarity-Based Renewable Energy Community has been officially established. This step represents significant progress in our mission to shape a sustainable and solidarity-based energy future.
Development process
The journey towards establishing the Renewable Energy Community began – following the launch of the ‘Energy WITH Spirit’ research project in April 2023 – with committed individuals and organisations in Bad Goisern getting to know one another and coming together. The partner organisations involved include the Bad Goisern boarding school, the Bad Goisern retirement and nursing home, and the Protestant parish of Goisern.
In August 2023, the photovoltaic system was installed on the Bad Goisern student residence, and following some initial challenges, electricity began to be fed into the public grid, initially via ÖMAG.
In parallel with the actual founding of the association, the group developed a tailor-made concept to put the core principle of ‘Energy WITH Spirit’ into practice – namely, allocating 10 per cent to vulnerable groups. Developing our pricing model was a challenging task, as we wanted to ensure that it was both fair to all participants and maintained the solidarity-based 10 per cent, which specifically benefits vulnerable individuals. Special thanks go to our colleague Bernhard Derler from AEE Intec for his valuable expertise in developing this model.
Foundation of the association
On 18 September 2024, the Gmunden District Administration issued the notice authorising the association to commence its activities, thereby officially granting the ‘Energy WITH Spirit Bad Goisern Renewable Energy Community’ legal capacity. This was followed on 9 October 2024 by its registration as a market participant on www.ebutilities.at and its connection to the market communication system.
The Energy WITH Spirit Bad Goisern Solidarity-Based Renewable Energy Community is now ready to begin its work: the pupils’ home feeds surplus solar power into the grid and makes it available to the energy community, whilst the care home for the elderly obtains this solar power directly from the energy community. We look forward to further expanding this sustainable and solidarity-based solution and supporting vulnerable groups.
Future prospects
We are looking forward to the next steps and to seeing how this model will develop further to support even more people – particularly vulnerable groups – and enable them to benefit from sustainable energy. The first settlement will take place at the end of 2024, and the ‘at least 10 per cent’ of the revenue generated by the ‘Energy WITH Spirit Bad Goisern Renewable Energy Community’ will be passed on to vulnerable groups.