The opportunities offered by CACER
The first step for a Municipality is to evaluate the configurations in its administrative context and accordingly take on different roles depending on themthat is to say:
- remote individual self-consumer: this configuration uses the distribution network to enhance municipal areas and surfaces even far from the consumption points;
- group of self-consumers: involves one or more municipal users within a building or condominium with other end customers/producers;
- renewable energy community: involves the involvement of various end customers and/or local producers, offering a compensatory impact on energy costs and encouraging physical and virtual self-consumption.
THE main benefits include the reduction of energy costs and the direct impact on containment of the Municipality's energy bill. Furthermore, the Municipality can participate as a producer or as a consumer, benefiting from the sharing of energy produced from renewable sources.
Strengthening administrative skills
To effectively implement self-consumption configurations and CERs, it is crucial that municipalities strengthen their administrative skills in energy matters. Recommended actions include:
- appointment of an Energy Manager: mandatory for municipalities with high energy consumption and recommended for others. The Energy Manager coordinates operations relating to energy management and works closely with the technical offices;
- creation of a dedicated unit: an office or sector dedicated to the coordination of energy operations, which supports political decisions and promotes sustainability as a transversal dimension in all administrative procedures.
Essential information to collect
Gather structured data it is fundamental to guide energy choices. Essential data includes:
- inventory of the municipal building heritage;
- inventory of infrastructure assets;
- statistical framework of electricity and heat consumption in the area;
- overview of the RES (Renewable Energy Sources) plants present;
- network infrastructure development programs;
- areas potentially suitable for the installation of renewable plants.
Investment programming and master plan
A master plan solid is essential for medium and long term planning of energy investments. The key elements are:
- efficiency interventions: identify the most energy-intensive buildings and assets and plan efficiency measures;
- estimate of prospective energy needs: evaluate future energy needs, considering possible decarbonizable end uses.
- benefits of self-consumption: analyze the benefits of physical and virtual self-consumption, in relation to the availability of surfaces and public areas.
In the development phase of CERs, municipalities must also consider several points of attention as the location of systemsThe finding resources and the planning and scheduling.
