Supporting the expansion of citizen-driven renewable energy projects

Project description   

The Rexel Foundation for a better energy future granted financial support to the association Energie partagée in order to help it develop its pilot project aimed at establishing a citizen-driven project model for renewable energy production based on solar installations located on tertiary buildings and parking lots. The model enables companies to enhance their assets’ value, in the present case the assets of MAIF (French mutual insurance company). These citizen-driven projects open their capital mainly to collective financing and are run by local actors.

This public interest project model allows:

• Using roof and parking lots surfaces which were previously unused in order to produce renewable energy via citizen funding
• Launching energy re-appropriation dynamics at local and company levels
• Mobilize employees internally via local actions within MAIF branches located close to the roofs equipped with solar panels

The project’s impact is expected at various levels: 

• Raising company and employee awareness and strengthening the relations between companies and their local stakeholders
• A decrease in GhG emissions thanks to renewable energy production
• Shared investment and ROI between investors (companies, citizens, local authorities)

Upon completion, this experiment will allow the establishment of a model enabling citizens to ask companies to join them in the energy transition. The pilot project will also enable Rexel to consider the deployment of this solution at its own locations, and will strengthen the collaboration between its technical, legal and financial teams.