Local energy production and energy saving actions in Drôme department, as part of the “Biovallée” sustainability strategy, have provided the LOTUS project with insights on successful cooperation between local businesses and citizens. Securing access to energy through self-sufficiency is a central topic in the Drôme valley, as well as many other European territories collaborating in the framework of the Interreg-funded project “ALPGRIDS” (2019-2022). As part of this ongoing project, the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes regional energy planning and environment protection agency AURA-EE has been working in cooperation with the semi-public energy company Compagnie Nationale du Rhône to perform a feasibility study in 6 villages where local self-consumption could allow to pool the needs of public and private establishments, such as schools, retirement homes, camping sites, churches and markets. Among other local actors, the citizen energy community Centrales Villageoises Vercor Soleil has been involved in these feasibility studies, hoping to implement similar projects in the near future.
Source: Alpgrids Project, Deliverable DT1.3.2. PILOT REPORT. Activity A.T1.3: Implementing Pilot Projects, Interreg Alpine Space, 2022, https://www.alpine-space.org/projects/alpgrids/en/project-results/wp-t1-creating-a-common-and-shared-understanding-of-microgrids/dt1.3.2—pilot-report [19.09.2022].
