Giving citizens the power to produce their own energy

In the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region of France, an unprecedented adventure was born in 2022: that of CV Durance Luberon, the first Centrale Villageoise to emerge not from a citizen's collective or a local authority... but on the initiative of a company.

At the crossroads between citizen involvement and entrepreneurial dynamics, this hybrid initiative opens up an original way to mobilize companies, communities and residents around the local energy transition.

Dear Difteur-ses,

The Centrales Villageoises network gathered in Lucinges, Haute-Savoie, for its annual flagship event.

This return to Rhone-Alpes land is highly symbolic: almost ten years after the first eight local companies were founded in the region, the network now boasts 76 nationwide. A remarkable growth that testifies to the dynamism and commitment of the players in the citizen energy transition.

On March 28 and 29, volunteers, partners and supporters gathered for the Rendez-Vous de Printemps des Centrales Villageoises. Over 200 participants attended, not counting the nearly 40 people who followed part of the online exchanges.

For more information: https://www.centralesvillageoises.fr/actualite/les-centrales-villageoises-reunies-en-haute-savoie

A big thank you to for your support!

Dear difteurs,

This is a first in the Centrales Villageoises network: 3 Savoyard Centrales Villageoises, EnergiCimes, Perle and Le Solaret, have decided to join forces to create a shared job.

For more information: https://www.centralesvillageoises.fr/actualite/voyage-au-coeur-des-projets-episode-19

This experience is also intended to be inspirational for other collectives, who are looking to take a new step in their development and see shared employment as a solution for mutualizing resources, not just financial ones. It's an opportunity for the Centrales Villageoises to strengthen ties and collaboration, drawing on each other's strengths and skills.

This idea is carrying real enthusiasm among the three Savoyard collectives, who have welcomed their first employee in January 2025.

A big thank you to you, dear difteurs, for your invaluable support and donations ✨

Dear difteurs,

We wish you a very happy new year 2025 ✨

Collective self-consumption is a new energy model that enables local sharing of renewable energy between neighboring producers and consumers. In other words, it gives electricity producers, such as those with solar panels, the opportunity to distribute energy directly to nearby consumers.

On a technical level, nothing changes: producers and consumers remain connected to the power grid in the same way. But economically and socially, the impact is considerable! This approach offers a new way of consuming and producing electricity, more local and often more supportive.

Projects across the Centrales Villageoises network

The Centrales Villageoises network already hasseveral collective self-consumption operations in service, supplying communal buildings, craftsmen, shopkeepers and private individuals. There are five operations in service at the start of 2025, and more than a dozen in development, due to see the light of day later this year!

We'll keep you posted on progress!

Dear difters,

On December 2, the day after COP29, the Association des Centrales Villageoises had the honor of speaking on the stage of the United Nations in Geneva.

A powerful moment to highlight the engagement of citizens through the Centrales Villageoises, who are working to catalyze climate action and move away from "business as usual".

This event aimed to show how citizens can be at the heart of climate action, and drive systemic change, whether through protest, political engagement or concrete actions, such as Centrales Villageoises, where citizens get directly involved by getting their hands dirty.

Find our intervention HERE from 1:15 (in English).

This intervention is part of a wider advocacy aimed at influencing climate policies to be as ambitious as possible in preparation for the submission of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP 30).

We are convinced that concrete actions, carried out at the local level, can catalyze global change for a more sustainable future.

It's possible to share free energy with low-income households!

The Centrales Villageoises du Trièves are taking another step forward in their fight against fuel poverty. After equipping precarious households with second-hand photovoltaic panels free of charge last January, the collective is launching a new experiment. The aim? To offer low-income households green, local and free energy. 

An innovative experiment: Solidarity Collective Self-Consumption

The collective, which brings together citizens, local authorities and businesses to carry out actions in favor of the energy transition, has taken a new step in its fight against fuel poverty. The local company is embarking on an innovative experiment: Autoconsommation Collective Solidaire (ACS).

This involves sharing the green electricity generated by the photovoltaic panels of private individuals who have no surplus valuation with precarious households, locally and free of charge.

In practical terms, when the electricity generated by photovoltaic panels exceeds consumption, the surplus energy is usually sold to the grid. Here, the idea is to distribute this surplus directly to neighboring families in fuel poverty through local solidarity loops.

3, 2, 1, go!

The experiment will start in early summer with some 15 volunteer producers, for a total production of 30kWp. The surplus energy will benefit twenty families identified by the local social services and social economy companies. The aim is to reduce their electricity bills by €250 a year.

Centrales Villageoises wins EUSEW Award
 

Tuesday June 11, Centrales Villageoises were announced winners of the European Local Action for Energy Award on the stage of the European Commission in Brussels.Handed over by the European Commissioner for Energy, the award recognizes sustainable energy initiatives by citizens' groups, local authorities and other stakeholders, who are working towards the transition to clean energy at local or community level.
Citizen energy in the spotlight...
 

The awards ceremony took place at the opening of European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW Week), the biggest annual event dedicated to renewable energy in Europe.

This prestigious award is a true European recognition of the efforts made by all the citizens involved in Centrales Villageoises, as well as the local municipalities and businesses that support these initiatives. Well done to all!

... And an opportunity to send out a strong message!
 

This award was also an opportunity for the association to bring citizen energy to the forefront of the European stage, and to remind people how much European regulation on energy communities can be a real lever for citizen action if accompanied by support schemes.

Citizen energy enables citizens to take back ownership of their energy future, and Europe has a crucial role to play in facilitating this involvement! 

The Centrales Villageoises association has been named a finalist in the prestigious European Sustainable Energy Awards 2024 (EUSEW Awards), in the "Local Action for Energy" category.
This award recognizes actions implemented in the field of sustainable energy, led by groups of citizens, local authorities, or other players, working towards the transition to clean energy on a local or community scale.
That sounds a bit like Centrales Villageoises, doesn't it?
In fact, Centrales Villageoises are citizen-governed cooperative societies that run renewable energy and energy management projects on a local scale. Their ambition is to mobilize citizens, communities and local businesses to take concrete action in favor of the energy transition!
It's up to the public to decide the winner of this award, so if you'd like to support us, vote for us and share the information around you!
Link to vote: https:/interactive.eusew.eu/awards/local-energy-action/empowering-citizens-for-renewable-energy-development-and-energy-sobriety
The EUSEW awards ceremony will take place during European Sustainable Energy Week from June 11 to 13, 2024, the largest annual event dedicated to renewable energy in Europe.
A great opportunity to present our model and salute the actions of Centrales Villageoises in the energy transition!

On March 15 and 16, over a hundred volunteers and partners gathered for the Steering Committee and the General Meeting of the Associationdes Centrales Villageoises. Not to mention the nearly 40 people who followed part of the event online!
Over two days, participants attended a series of workshops and plenary sessions on key network topics: collective self-consumption, ground-mounted photovoltaics and shading, local job creation and energy sobriety...
These discussions were a source of inspiration for the Centrales Villageoises volunteers, who went home even more determined to promote renewable energies in their territories! 

The year 2023 has been an exciting chapter for the Association des Centrales Villageoises.

Between its first participation in two European projects, recruiting new staff, establishing new partnerships, developing innovative tools, organizing meetings and holding multiple training courses, the association has undertaken numerous initiatives to spread the Centrales Villageoises model and support its volunteers.

The 28 pages of this report detail all these advances, with particular emphasis on projects carried out locally by the Centrales Villageoises.

We invite you to share it (without moderation!) to introduce the Centrales Villageoises approach to your neighbors, your friends, your family, your local elected officials and players in the energy transition, and to all the curious who would like to venture into the adventure of citizen energy! 

After the pioneering Centrales Villageoises du Val de Quint project in 2020, the  Centrales Villageoises Energie Coeur de Corrèze are the second collective within the network to set up a collective self-consumption operation:

an innovative project that enables the commune of Naves to consume locally produced energy! 

Les  Centrales Villageoises Energie Coeur de Corrèze and collective self-consumption

 

Les Centrales Villageoises Energie Coeur de Corrèze is a citizen-owned renewable energy production collective set up as a société coopérative d'intérêt collectif (SCIC). Since their creation in 2021, the collective has been pursuing an ambitious project to produce and consume its own solar-generated electricity. This innovative solution reduces the cost of energy bills, while producing and sharing locally-produced green electricity. 

Two years after their creation, the Correze collective's project is taking shape with the implementation of a first collective self-consumption loop, built using resources provided by the Centrales Villageoises association. Since November 1, 2023, the 256 photovoltaic panels installed on the multi-purpose hall in the commune of Naves have been partly supplying the school complex, the stadium, the equestrian center and the town hall.

By sharing the energy produced by the photovoltaic power plant locally, the citizens' collective is strengthening local ties and raising awareness of renewable energies among local residents. With this innovative project, the Centrales Villageoises Energie Coeur de Corrèze are a fine example for the many neighboring communes!

The Association des Centrales Villageoises is recruiting a development and technical support officer to accompany the network's growth and strengthen the technical support provided to member collectives! The position also includes participation in the work of the two European projects supported by the association. 
It's partly thanks to your donations that we can recruit a new person, so many thanks for your support 🙏 

Download the job offer 

Don't hesitate to share this offer in your networks! Applications due by February 8, 2024. 

On October 16 and 17, 2023, the assises Ad'M EnR Citoyennes, co-organized by ADEME, Energie Partagée and AURA-EE, took place. This third edition, which took place in Lyon, aimed to highlight the many initiatives for the development of citizen energies around workshops, round tables and site visits.
The event illustrated the strong momentum of the Centrales Villageoises model in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, via site visits on day 1 and plenary and workshop presentations on day 2.
Learn more here.

For the second year running, the Centrales Villageoises association will be one of 40 environmental associations invited to come and "pitch" at the "Rencontres pour la Planète", organized on October 10 and 11 in Paris by 1% For the Planet.

The aim being both to increase awarenessof our initiatives, and to raise fundsvia contributions from patrons attending the event but also from the general public: as part of this, the association benefits from a crowdfunding campaign where donations are doubled by 1% For The Planetup to €3,000. Please help us reach this amount by sharing the campaign widely!

Link to crowdfunding with doubled donations!

The project presented by the association this year is geared towards the development of collective self-consumption within the network of Centrales Villageoises.

Link to the project page on the 1% for the Planet website (and psst: what's more, it was Captain Cause who made their page! 😉)

From September, the Centrales Villageoises association will be taking part in a European LIFE program project. Entitled ECOEMPOWER, this project aims to set up or consolidate Europe-wide support structures for citizen renewable energy projects.
To find out more about the consortium of partners, the content of the project and the roles of the Association des Centrales Villageoises within it, click here!

The Centrales Villageoises association organized a webinar presenting Centrales Villageoises on June 27, 2023. It was divided into 5 parts:
1)to start with, a testimonial of a concrete project carried out by the Centrales Villageoises Cévidorées
2) then a step back on the history of the Centrales Villageoises, the charter and the reproducible model set up
3) a focus on the economic models of the projects, and on the legal structure enabling citizen investment
4) a testimonial from the PNR des Baronnies Provençales on the contribution of Centrales Villageoises to the territory
5) and finally a list of steps to take to launch the approach close to home!
Webinar replay here !

The Centrales Villageoises network has just passed the Megawatt mark in installed capacity since the start of 2023!
⚡️ 17 new rooftop installations, with unit power ranging from 21 to 140 kWp, have been connected in the last four months, by 11 Centrales Villageoises companies: congratulations to Cevival - Centrales Villageoises des Vallons du Lyonnais, Centrales Villageoises Beewatt, SAS Cevidorées - Centrales Villageoises Beaujolais Pierres Dorées, EnergiCimes, Grési21, Centrales Villageoises Le Solaret Coeur de Savoie, NID'énergies, Centrales du Trièves, Vercorsoleil, Pl'Ain d'Energie and at Centrales Villageoises Sur le toit des Alpilles! 🎉
👉 For more figures, visit here

The Centrales Villageoises association was delighted to receive the Mag2Lyon ESS Trophy for 2022 in the Climate category.

The awards ceremony took place on November 8, 2022. We take a look back at this award a few months later, as Mag2Lyon has just published a video presenting the Centrales Villageoises: a great insight into the work of the national association and the concrete implementation on a territorial scale!

The Centrales Villageoises association held its annual event in Saverne, Alsace, on March 24 and 25.
A day of exchanges at the "Comité de Pilotage" on Friday 24, followed by a more formal moment with the association's General Meeting on Saturday 25.
A look back in pictures at this event, which brought together some sixty volunteers from the network's various collectives: https://www.centralesvillageoises.fr/actualite/retour-sur-le-copil-et-lassemblee-generale-de-lassociation.

👉 The 2022 activity report from the Association des Centrales Villageoises is online! To be found here !
📖 28 pages to give you a complete and up-to-date portrait of our beautiful network: its successes, its difficulties, its key figures and its outlook for the future...
Let's keep one figure in mind to illustrate the rise of our network: the production of renewable and local electricity by Centrales Villageoises increased by 50% in 2022 compared to 2021! For more figures and information, visit here.
Good reading!