From Taradell to Galicia, cooperatives are supplying cheap, clean electricity to homes and helping tackle fuel poverty
It began in the small Catalan town of Taradell as a plan to provide local people with allotments where they could grow their own food.
Four activists came together with the aim of promoting good environmental practices in local agriculture and business, as well as supplying renewable energy. The project, however, was about much more than growing vegetables.
The town has a strong tradition of community action, and as the initiative gathered momentum, the activists formed a cooperative, Taradell Sostenible, which now has 111 members and supplies power to more than 100 households. These include some of the area’s most vulnerable citizens, says Eugeni Vila, the coop’s president. “The question was how could people with few resources join the coop when membership costs €100,” says Vila. “We agreed that people designated as poor by the local authority could join for only €25 and thus benefit from the cheap electricity we generate.”
Taradell Sostenible have installed solar panels on the roofs of a sports centre and a cultural centre to supply electricity to the community, with funding from the government’s Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy (IDAE), which is working to expand energy communities across the country.
