Energy sharing
We were the first to launch pilot projects that enabled private citizens and businesses to share locally generated renewable energy. Today, energy sharing is no longer an innovation, as Wallonia now has a specific regulatory framework for these practices.
The Auto consumption in real estate for us or Acrus project is intended to explore new electricity distribution rates for energy sharing within the same building. It investigates how these rates could encourage SMEs to consume locally generated energy.
Led by the IDETA development agency, which owns the building, the project is a cooperative effort by and between tenant businesses, Engie Electrabel, CWaPE, and Haulogy. ORES plays a key role as a data notary for energy sharing and provides support to assess the impact of rates on consumption profiles.
Operating in the Polaris economic activity zone in Péruwelz, the project began on 1 April 2022 and will conclude on 31 March 2025.
The HospiGreen project was intended to create a renewable energy community in Tournai, aligning with the European Clean Energy Package, which promotes the use of green energy and decentralisation.
Led by the territorial development agency IDETA, HospiGreen brought together public consumers to support collective self-consumption of green energy, including the CHwapi medical centre, the Marronniers care centre, the Tournai CPAS (public welfare agency), and the firms Vitrerie Landrieux-Leclercq SRL and Etablissements Glorieux SA.
ORES carried out the energy-sharing calculations for the various parties on the market within the community.
Conducted in the Tournai West business park over a period of 28 months, from 1 November 2020 to 28 February 2023, the project is now completed.
The E-Cloud project was intended to encourage neighbouring businesses to share solar and wind-generated energy through advantageous rates. Initiated before the Walloon decree of May 2019, it was one of the first practical implementations of renewable energy communities.
Twelve companies consumed and shared 6,450 MWh of renewable energy over one year: 61% of this energy was self-consumed. It covered 39% of the electricity needs of the participating companies, enabling them to save 4 to 8% of their energy costs.
ORES launched the project as the electricity network operator and manager. Partners included IDETA, Luminus, the University of Mons, N-Side, and a dozen local businesses. The project was conducted in the Tournai West business park from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 and is now completed.
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LogisCER is a pilot project of renewable energy communities launched in Stembert (Verviers), enabling public housing tenants to share locally produced renewable energy over two years so as to gain better control over their energy bills.
The purpose of this project was to pool renewable energy generation resources and provide social housing residents with protection against energy price fluctuations by covering part of their needs.
ORES provided the technical expertise and necessary tools, while the University of Mons provided advice and guidance to helped residents get fully involved in this civil initiative.
The project moreover provided an opportunity to raise awareness among participants about energy consumption management so that they could manage their energy bills better by adopting new habits.
This project, which ran from May 2022 to April 2024, demonstrated that local renewable energy could be used efficiently.
Since 2022, the Flemish grid operator Fluvius has allowed self-generated energy to be shared freely with other persons via digital meters. This initiative was expanded in 2023, removing the requirement for the same energy provider between the sharer and the recipient.
The Flemish Energy Decree regulates this process, setting precise rules for distributed self-produced energy. ORES is preparing to integrate this peer-to-peer model by analysing opportunities and the necessary processes to facilitate this transition.
Launched in 2018 under the impetus of Agences de Développement Territorial (ADT) [Territorial Development Agencies], the ZELDA project was developed with the University of Mons for the scientific research, and with distribution network operators for the technical implementation.
ADT aims to promote inclusive energy communities that can bring together all businesses established in a business park, regardless of the voltage level at which they are connected to the public distribution network operated by the distribution network operator.
A feasibility study assessed the deployment potential of a Renewable Energy Community (known by the French acronym CER) for 56 business parks in Wallonia, selecting 30 for the project. A simulation based on the consumption data of 115 companies quantified the potential economic benefits for all stakeholders (companies, ADT, distribution network operators, and society). The
findings were shared with Walloon businesses.
The next steps of the project include implementing the 30 CERs and developing customer profile simulation and community sizing tools.