One by one they go up to the wall and put up their notes: Strengthen the community. Make it easy to act on climate problems. Generate profits for the local community. Gain shared ownership of renewable energy. Influence. Increased climate awareness. Transparent energy chain. Settlement. Good sense. Responsible energy production. Secure supply.

The people behind the new Skårups Sustainable Energy Community gather around the yellow notes. They have been asked to put into words what it can give the citizens of their town to become part of the project. We meet in a room at Svendborg Town Hall and take part in a workshop that researchers from DTU have set up. Here, questions and idea development will make the current members sharper about what the core value of the energy community is. They will need this when they go out to inform about the energy community in their village, where 1.840 inhabitants currently live.

"It's really useful," says Stine Skøtt Thomsen, head of the energy community, over the phone a few days later. "A lot of words and many nuances have come up, and it helps to create a common understanding of what we want in the board," she says and continues:

"It becomes quite clear to us that an energy community is much more than electricity prices, kilowatt-hours and tariffs. It's about doing something together as a group for the climate and thus for our children and grandchildren. And at the same time develop the city so that it is a good place to live. In the long term, we hope to get all of the city's citizens involved," says Stine Skøtt Thomsen, who normally works as a consultant and is also the representative of the city's local council.

The first solar cells have been installed

The first step in the plans for the new energy community in Skårup has been realized. Skårup Culture and Sports Centre, which is one of the important gathering points in the city, has installed solar cells on the roof in June. And after the summer holidays, a charging stand for electric cars will also be set up here. The payment for the electricity is returned to the energy community.

"These are our first solar cells in the energy community, and they make the whole project more concrete. So it is an important step,” she says.

Back in 2022, Svendborg Municipality contacted Skårup local council. Svendborg Municipality has in their climate plan with the goal of establishing at least one energy community with the municipality as a participant. Here they had Skårup in their sights. At the same time, Svendborgs Forsyningsselskab Vand og Affald also wanted to establish an energy community.

"As a village, we have a strong tradition of finding common solutions. We have a shared district heating plant, water plant and a very well-visited sports and cultural centre. We are used to organizing ourselves and have a lot of associational life with sports and culture. So for us it also made sense to look more closely at the proposal to create an energy community," says Stine Skøtt Thomsen.

The idea of ​​a local energy community sparked interest in the city. Today, the board consists of, among other things, by Skårup Culture and Sports Center, Boligforeningen FAB, Skårup Local Council and Svendborg Municipality, which run care homes, three schools and kindergartens in the town. The landowner at Klingstrup Hovedgård also joined the project. According to Stine Skøtt Thomsen, it is a strong team. The plan is for solar cells to be installed on the roofs where possible. In addition, the landowner has previously set up wind turbines that will also supply green power to the project. The members must then be able to share the green power between each other when it is needed, and at the same time deliver to the collective grid when they produce more than they consume.

"In light of the energy crisis and rising prices, it is an important project. We have all seen how vulnerable we are and how dependent we are on other countries. So we would like to try to produce our own electricity, be more self-sufficient and manage it ourselves," she says.

Stine Skøtt Thomsen hopes that in the long term they can get all the citizens in the city to join the energy community.

According to Stine Skøtt Thomsen, there is also a need to see the value of the initiatives that come from below in society.

"There is a need to create a more democratic energy transition. We are neighbors to an area where a capital fund wants to start a wind turbine project without giving people input. This has led to resistance and complaints, which have so far slowed down the project", she says and continues:

"Here it will appear as if people in the area do not want wind turbines and solar panels. But that is wrong. People want to make their own decisions, run it and reap the benefits so that we can develop our local community, rather than big capital far away taking the profits from the local area. We must have more renewable energy, but it must also be built up from below – even if it is a little more difficult.”

The bumps along the way

The project has been helped well at the start because Svendborg Municipality and Water and Waste have set aside time for a few of their employees to focus on the matter. They have also received funding from the Danish Energy Agency's Pool for Energy Communities for advice, the purchase of software and dissemination. The sports and culture center already had plans to set up solar cells and has purchased them itself.

The energy community in Skårup had its founding general meeting in November 2023. Photo: Stine Skøtt Thomsen.

But there have also been some bumps in the road. It has, among other things, been unclear how they were to establish the energy community. They first went to make a cooperative, then a private limited company, but it turns out that they have to be set up as AMBA, so now their articles of association have to be changed. The local utility, which would otherwise like to put a roof on the project, cannot participate, because only small and medium-sized companies can take part in an energy community. At the same time, the roofs of the kindergartens, the nursing home and the school have proven to be in too poor a condition to support solar cells.

And last but not least, the software solution for the energy community is not fully developed. Together with the consulting company EBO Consult, they must develop a solution that suits them in a pilot project.

"The technical aspects have proven to be a challenge. Because how do we share the energy we produce? But if everything goes according to plan, the energy community can be up and running at the beginning of autumn. We are very much looking forward to that.”

Despite the various bumps in the road, the people behind the energy community are holding on.

"It has been absolutely crucial that the municipality is so committed because they have a great deal of knowledge, and that Water and Waste has also set aside a lot of time for it. After all, I myself work voluntarily, so there are limits to what hours I can put in. If we as a local council had to do it all ourselves, it would have taken much longer," says Stine Skøtt Thomsen.