In the following, we give a brief overview of community energy practitioners’ networks and associations. Moreover, you will find some data and references where to find more.

Europe

REScoop.eu: European federation for renewable energy cooperatives
At the same time, REScoop.eu is the sector association of Cooperatives Europe, the European branch of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).

Overview of renewable energy cooperatives on REScoop’s “Community Energy Map” at https://www.rescoop.eu/community-energy-map.

[BE] [FR] [DE] [IT] [NL] [ES] [CH] [UK]

Belgium

REScoop.Vlaanderen

REScoop.Wallonie

France

Energie Partagée:

Germany

Bündnis Bürgerenergie e.V. (BBEn): German community energy association [websites in German language only]

Besides the national confederation, there are several associations on state (“Bundesländer”) level:

• Baden-Württemberg:
  MetropolSolar Rhein-Neckar e.V. (renewable energy initiatives in Rhein-Neckar metropolitan area, i.e. across borders of Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, and Rhineland-Palatinate),
• Bavaria:
  Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bayerischer Solar-Initiativen (community solar initiatives),
  Bürgerenergie Bayern e.V.
• Berlin: –
• Brandenburg: –
• Bremen: –
• Hamburg: –
• Hesse:
  Landesnetzwerk Bürger-Energiegenossenschaften Hessen e.V. (LaNEG Hessen)
• Mecklenburg-Western Pommerania: –
• Lower Saxony:
  Netzwerk Bürgerenergiegesellschaften Niedersachsen (pending)
• North Rhine-Westphalia:
  Plattform Bürgerenergie & Energiegenossenschaften (platform managed by the regional public energy agency, EnergieAgentur.NRW)
• Rhineland-Palatinate:
  Landesnetzwerk Bürgerenergiegenossenschaften Rheinland-Pfalz e.V. (LaNEG)
• Saarland: –
• Saxony: –
• Saxony-Anhalt: –
• Schleswig-Holstein: –
• Thuringia:
  BürgerEnergie Thüringen e.V.

Deutscher Raiffeisen- und Genossenschaftsverband e.V. (DGRV): German cooperative and Raiffeisen confederation, umbrella association
DGRV has a national office for energy cooperatives (“Bundesgeschäftsstelle“).

There are four regional associations that have technical committees for energy cooperatives:

• Baden-Württemberg:
  Baden-Württembergischer Genossenschaftsverband e.V.
• Bavaria:
  Genossenschaftsverband Bayern e.V. (technical committee for energy cooperatives, see https://www.gv-bayern.de/verband/gremien/fachausschuesse)
• Weser-Ems:
  Genossenschaftsverband Weser-Ems e.V. (list of energy cooperatives, see https://www.gvweser-ems.de/DE/Mitglieder/energiegenossenschaften/uebersicht_elektrizitaet.php)
• Other regions:
  Genossenschaftsverband – Verband der Regionen e.V. (two expert committees, see https://www.genossenschaftsverband.de/verband/organe-und-gremien/; German websites only)

Netzwerk Energiewende jetzt e.V.: network mainly active in the field of education and advisory services

Publicly Available Data

DGRV: Survey on energy cooperatives (only members of DGRV member associations)

Energiewende Jetzt!

EnergieAgentur.NRW: Community energy database for federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia

Other Data Sources

University of Kassel

Leuphana University of Lüneburg / Degenhart et al.

IZES & Leuphana

Klaus Novy Institute

trend:research

Italy

Confcooperative Consumo e Utenza: Italian confederation of consumer and user cooperatives [Italian only]

Südtiroler Energieverband (SEV): South Tyrol energy association

Netherlands

ODE Decentraal:

Spain

Union Renovables:

Switzerland

Verband unabhängiger Energieerzeuger (VESE): Special group within the Swiss Solar Energy Society (SSES) [websites in German and French]

UK

Community Energy England:

Community Energy Wales:

Energy4All: