I-ENER

I-ENER is a citizen society focusing on the development of renewable energy projects, mainly the production of electricity and heat (e.g. photovoltaic, biomass, etc.), in a specific scope (the Basque country). Citizens of this region provide finance in form of equity, which is directly invested into territorial projects. A management board directly elected by the shareholders manages the company.I-ENER was created in 2014 and now involves more than 500 shareholders. It has developed mainly photovoltaic projects on public roofs. In order to develop these projects, I-ENER involves citizens, shareholders of the company, and regional city councils who want to develop renewable energy projects in their territories.

I-ENER is member of the RESCoop network and the governance model is based on the cooperative model, meaning that each shareholder has one vote no matter the amount of shares he/she holds. This type of governance is tackled by the need of balance between the professionalism of the board members, the participation of volunteers and the democratic decisions taken between the shareholders. I-ENER aims for citizens to regain control over energy and to make them aware of its importance, thus promoting a responsible and sustainable consumption of energy.

The value proposition ofI-ENER is to generate electricity by a system owned by citizens. This is a non-profit company where all the benefits that are obtained from marketing green electricity are returned to the energy community. The members themselves decide how to reinvest in renewable energy projects. In 2019,I-ENER create a new company for green electricity supply and therefore complete the electricity value chain (production and supply). This new company, named ENARGIA, is also a cooperative and begin his activity in the month of July 2019. Lastly,I-ENER is currently leading the Auzoener project in the Social Innovation research program of the Aquitaine region.