PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
RENPOWER seeks to empower and assist private home-owners to improve their home energy performance and comfort, by providing citizen-led one-stop-shop integrated home renovation services (IHRS). In Ireland, citizen energy cooperative ECTC will, under the new brand name Ecovision, extend an existing service to a wider geographical area and improve access for vulnerable households. In the Spanish regions of the Basque Country and Navarre, citizen energy cooperative GoiEner will start a completely new service. Meanwhile, the property owners union UIPI will promote replication in other EU regions, adapting to the local context, and will formulate policy recommendations. The collaboration is based on reciprocal knowledge sharing. ECTC will train GoiEner in all aspects of engaging with stakeholders to create a network of collaborators for executing renovation works, in setting-up front- and back-office operations to initiate a one-stop shop (OSS) adapted to local needs and conditions, and in implementing a simple yet effective support platform for process follow-up. Financing mechanisms from private or cooperative banks and public programs will be secured. In exchange, based on their experience of identifying and reducing hidden energy poverty without creating a stigma, and of involving the required stakeholders, GoiEner will show ECTC how to add further energy poverty alleviation actions to their existing OSS. In line with demographic differences, GoiEner will focus on homeowners and communities of multi-dwelling residential and mixed-purpose buildings; whereas ECTC will concentrate on single-family homes. In both Member States, the project aims to reduce residential energy consumption, promote renewable energy solutions and behaviour change, and thus avoid rebound effects and enhance energy sovereignty. Pilot buildings with fossil-fuel heating systems have been identified to kick-start activity. Further candidate buildings will be recruited gradually and enter the process funnel after initial set-up activities. We aim to renovate 200 housing units and trigger investments in energy efficiency and renewables of 6,8M€ during the project’s lifetime and then ramp up activity during the following years, based on an economically sustainable business model. For renovations, the use of natural and sustainable materials will be prioritised. A Replication Toolkit will be published during the final semester of the three-year project, which will allow other interested actors to learn from our experience and implement similar OSS services in other EU regions or Member States, thus contributing to a clean energy transition in the EU.