Licht Leuven, Belgium

In the framework of SCCALE, the City of Leuven and the organisation Leuven 2030 will work with the Belgian cooperative Ecopower to first create an organisational structure for the energy cooperative and then involve citizens as members and co-owner of the solar installations.

Context

The pilot is located in Leuven, a city of 100.000 people (of which 60.000 students) in the Flemish region of Belgium. The city is known for its university, has a thriving knowledge economy, and is popular among expats. The average household income is high, but the city is not free from poverty. It is currently governed by a progressive board with high social, housing and climate ambitions. The cooperative Ecopower has 2.000 members in Leuven. 

The city will finance technical scans/audits to convince and support people to install PV and energy-efficient heating systems and to increase the self-consumption of their solar power through smart energy management, changing habits and storage systems. 

GOALS

Goal Number 01

Installing 10 non-residential PV-installations (of 350 kWp in total)

Goal Number 02

Installing 50 residential PV-installations of 3 kWp in average (or an alternative investment in roof insulation or energy-efficient devices)

Goal Number 03

Connecting 40 households to a district heating network

Goal Number 04

Starting an energy sobriety ambassador program 

Goal Number 05

Actively involving 250 people in the process