A plan for community energy in the Northern Periphery and Arctic

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Joint Transnational Methodology: A Plan for Community-Based Virtual Power Plants & Distributed Energy Solutions.

12 February 2025 - COPOWER project

The ERNACT led COPOWER project has reached an important step with the completion of the Joint Transnational Methodology: A Plan for Community-Based Virtual Power Plants & Distributed Energy Solutions. This document explains a new way to set up Community-Based Virtual Power Plants (cVPPs) and promote local energy solutions.

A simple approach to clean energy
Imagine a future where communities produce, store, and manage their own energy, using less from big power companies and more from renewable sources. The Joint Transnational Methodology helps make this happen by guiding COPOWER partners in Finland, Iceland, Ireland, and the Faroe Islands to:

Choose Pilot Projects – Find and start local energy projects that can bring real benefits.
Collect and Predict Data – Gather important information to make smart energy choices.
Test and Monitor – Check how the projects work and create a model that can be used across Europe.

Five key pilot projects
COPOWER is testing its plan with energy projects in five different places:

Centria University of Applied Sciences (Finland): A biogas-powered Virtual Power Plant (VPP) with battery storage to improve energy use.
University of Oulu (Finland): A smart energy home that uses data and heat storage to save energy.
University of Iceland (Iceland): A shared small-scale VPP in a multi-apartment building, helping residents use more renewable energy.
Donegal County Council (Ireland): A local government project using solar panels and batteries to manage energy better.
Nólsoy Energy Ltd (Faroe Islands): A project looking at how to use wind, solar, and electric car batteries for flexible energy storage.

Building a Greener Future Together
This plan is more than just a set of rules – it is a step towards cleaner, smarter, and community-led energy solutions. By learning from these pilot projects, COPOWER is helping create a future with more reliable and renewable energy, especially in small and rural areas.

Stay tuned as we help communities take control of their energy use.

^{***This text has been partly generated by AI***}

Click here to email Maixa Zabaleta at ERNACT for further information

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