In this interview with Josu Naveda and Chris Merveille from GoiEner, we explore the unique Citizen Energy Financing Scheme (CEFS) that bridges the gap between ethical financiers and citizen-led energy communities in Spain. Focused primarily on photovoltaic projects, CEFS operates with a mission to provide secure and accessible funding while fostering sustainable energy transitions. Structured around a proven model, it brings together energy communities, the cooperative Goiener as an intermediary, and ethical financial institutions such as Coop57 and Fiare Banca Etica.

Could you outline the key details of your CEFS? 

The key details or the things that make our CEFS very special are that we connect ethical financiers with citizen-led energy communities. We only work with local and ethical financing institutions and citizen energy projects. We are concentrating on photovoltaic projects but hope we will be able to expand into other technologies in the near future.

How is your CEFS structured?

We based our structure on the Realisatiefonds, minus one actor perhaps (we do not have a fund manager in our model). So we have on the one side the energy communities, then Goiener, as an intermediary that gives both expertise to the energy communities and security to the financial institutions. And on the other hand, you have the financial institutions who provide credit directly to the energy communities: Coop57 and Fiare Banca Etica.

What is your role exactly?

Why are you helping the energy communities to apply for the funds? We help the communities to fill in the forms and prepare their applications. The financial institutions are not very familiar with energy communities, which is also where our role is. In addition, we are creating tools that we know that will work for almost everyone involved. And all these actors also said that they are willing to work on sort of simplifying and standardizing the process.

How many communities have already taken advantage of your CEFS?

Up to 8 communities have secured grants with our CEFS’ help worth more than 500,000 euro, and we are involved right now in helping them get the bridge-loans necessary until the money comes in.

What is your long-term goal?

Our long-term goals for the current CEFS, as a service to both energy communities and financial institutions, would be to extend it to many more energy communities (say 20-30, as the demand grows) and to make it economically viable. At the moment, budding energy communities do not have funds to pay for our mediation, and credit institutions are not (yet) willing to remunerate our services  - although they recognise that our intermediation lowers the risk profile for them.

In addition, we will need to look at financing community infrastructure beyond rooftop solar: ground-based solar PV, but more importantly other technologies such as wind power, hydroelectric plants, biogas for CHP, district heating etc. In the shorter term, we are looking at financing solutions for collective home renovation.