What if you shared solar electricity between neighbours?

Between them, they could well invent a new model of Amap. Like the organic baskets between a farmer and a local group of consumers, residents of Simiane-Collongue, a village between Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, have decided to come together to share the solar electricity produced by the ‘One. Two. Their Amep (association for the pooling of local energy) was thus born last July, with already visible results on the electricity bill – between 15% and 25% saved over the summer period – even if it is not their primary aim.

“The idea really came to me while eating grapes,” smiles Christophe Brun. The vines of his house, where he settled with his family in the summer of 2021, are abundant. So quite naturally, he gives some to the neighbours: “We would never have thought of selling them grapes. So why not do the same with the surplus solar electricity produced by the sixteen photovoltaic panels he had installed on the roof? “We thought it would be interesting to test free sharing, to see what happens,” he continues.

“He creates a community that is worth gold”

“The basis of the ecological transition is the social bond, it is the idea that together we can take concrete actions at the territorial level”, explains Julie Lacombe, co-founder of the Amep with Christophe Brun, to whom she regularly brings jams from her garden in exchange for the electricity received. “There is no electric wire between our houses,” she smiles. The only technical constraint is a radius of 2 km around the producing house. Afterwards, everything is done via Enedis which redirects the surplus electricity to the four consumers of the Amep, according to a distribution key established by agreement.

Virginie, tenant of an apartment in Simiane, is one of the recipients. “I was interested in being able, at my level, to take part in a project around energy production,” she says. I think the project as a whole is great. It’s the idea of ​​the short circuit, of operating on the scale of a village, of relocating energy like food. This creates a bond between residents. » « Christophe self-consumes 80% of his production, the 20% he gives represent a few hundred euros. For that price, it creates a community that is worth gold, ”abounds Julie Lacombe.

“Any group of neighbors anywhere in France”

The Amep already sees further. “The objective was to test, we see that it works, advances Flora, member of the consumer group of Amep. In the future, we would like the electricity to go to people in fuel poverty and associations. The association is working to identify them, hoping one day to be able to supply the Emmaus community of Plan-de-Campagne, currently outside the 2 km radius. This requires recruiting new producers, the correct ratio being, according to the Amep, one producer for five consumers. Several should join the adventure in 2023.

The association has also developed expertise for the administrative aspect of the case with Enedis. “We have created a support that can be used by any group of neighbors who would like to do the same everywhere in France”, indicates Christophe Brun, who has already received calls from Valenciennes, Brest, Digne-les-Bains or Dieulefit. “With this project, we are also working on energy sobriety,” he says. When we are interested in its consumption, mechanically we will reduce it. »

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