So what are the options? On the demand side, the work of local authorities to reduce energy dependence is likely to look like a package of energy efficiency initiatives alongside supporting measures such as support and advice for struggling households and businesses and working closely with organisations that help people living in fuel poverty. More radically, projects such as district heat networks (as detailed later in this newsletter) can pipe waste heat from power generation into homes, saving energy.

When it comes to supply, local government can actually provide some heavy-hitting solutions to reducing community dependence on high-cost imported energy. Municipal energy production and local energy initiatives (LEIs) are enticing propositions for many local authorities. Energy sovereignty is defensible from almost any ideological perspective and is at the heart of numerous citizen concerns including climate change adaptation and mitigation, resilience of public infrastructure and prevention of energy poverty.

However, the path of local energy initiatives is fraught with risk, as well as technical difficulty and legal complexity. Overcoming these barriers requires acceptance of long-term political and financial commitments. This edition of Global Local focuses primarily on practical examples and advice for councils considering steps toward improving energy affordability and community resilience to cost fluctuations.

As long as this situation does not change, commercialisation is the most accessible point in the Spanish electric market and a pragmatic starting point from which local authorities can start doing things differently. This is what dozens of town councils across the country have done, including cities as big as Barcelona, also rural municipalities for example Isaba. In the latter case, the town has managed to reinvest profits to create its own hydroelectric power generator to supply over five hundred homes in the mountains of the Navarrese Pyrenees. Each municipality has faced its own challenges in taking the plunge and setting up its own electricity trading company, but the results of those that have succeeded are overwhelmingly positive.

Becoming a public utility, or a public electricity operator, allows the direct purchase of electricity for all public consumption. This has the direct consequence of lower costs for the municipality and the possibility of directing surplus energy to social housing and local businesses. In addition, the management of energy allows for first-hand knowledge of market price data and consumption data, eliminating intermediaries and commissions. Local regulations have proven to be more flexible than national legislation in allowing purchases from municipal entities, and the municipality’s own purchasing volume favours both lower prices and the economic sustainability of the project.

Image: Amager Bakke, also known as Amager Slope or Copenhill, is a combined heat and power waste-to-energy plant and sports facility in Amager, Copenhagen. It opened in 2017 and doubles as a year-round artificial ski slope, hiking slope and climbing wall.

One of the oldest and most successful of its kind, Copenhagen’s district heating system was set up in 1984 by 5 mayors and today heats 98% of the city with clean, reliable and affordable heating. 30% of the annual heating demand is covered by surplus heat from waste incineration, contributing to a circular economy, while the remaining production is from geothermal energy and fuels such as wood pellets, straw, natural gas, and oil.

The system captures the waste heat from the electricity production of incineration plants and Combined Heat and Power plants (CHPs). This heat would normally be released into the sea as a byproduct. Instead, it is delivered to homes through a 1,300 km network of pipes. Four CHP power plants, four waste incinerators, and more than 50 peak load boiler plants, together with 20 distribution companies, are connected in the large pool-operated system, producing 30,000 Terajoules of energy. Compared with oil or gas boiler alternatives, CPH-based district heat reduces CO2 emissions by 40-50%.

The system cuts the average household bill by €1,400, reducing fuel poverty, and saves Copenhagen from using over 200,000 tons of oil every year – equating to around 665,000 tons of CO2 emissions avoided.

Benefits
• Lower cost heat to households, reducing fuel poverty
• Can be delivered to businesses, greening retail and private sector firms
• Flexible in choice of production plant and fuels used
• Environmentally friendly due to use of a byproducts and sustainable fuels 
• CHP technology is well-established; 12% of Europe’s electricity is generated from useable heat

So how does it work, how was it financed, and what are the conditions for success of a project like this?