Case Älvbyarna is a twofold solution aiming to expand the village cooperation into energy and resiliency questions on one hand and to develop and test a calculation tool to help the villages make well-informed fact-based decisions about their energy solutions on the other. From the tests, a handbook on village-level energy business models will be developed. The project activities are embedded into the local community through an active co-creation process.
Novia university of applied sciences, having expertise and research on sustainable energy solutions is in charge of creating the calculation tool and the energy production guide. The village association Älvbyarna, with extensive experience in co-creation and community organisation and development, is in charge of planning and implementing the co-creation process and of coordinating the civil society reference group in the pilot.



“Need for more citizen-led energy initiatives and local energy communities in the region of Ostrobothnia”
In September 2022 a call for Innovative energy solutions in Ostrobothnia was launched as part of the RIPEET project. The call was specifically meant to identify energy solutions connecting local resources to local solutions, a challenge that emerged from the RIPEET report, mapping and analysing the energy transition ecosystem in Ostrobothnia.
3 key challenges identified related to this need were:

Lack of networks connecting regional actors such as citizens and energy experts

Lack of support for citizen-led energy initiatives

Lack of dialogue on important issues for policy development supporting local energy solutions
Objectives

A calculation tool for building specific energy use and sustainable production will be created. For this, the old school in Älvbyarna will be the demo object, but the tool is intended to be usable for basically any type of building.

The solution will increase existing knowledge on community-operated energy production. The potential for hydropower production in the local rapid Voitbyforsen will be explored and a guide for community-operated energy production and related legal forms and business models will be developed

An active co-creation process will be created to enable continuous feedback from users and civil society in rural areas and to ensure that all activities are embedded into the local community.

Expected results

The calculation tool is a unique product created in the pilot, and one which can be used by both organisations with large buildings and owners of private homes as soon as the tool has been created and tested.

Älvbyarna has existing local energy resources (hydro power, wind, and even solar power) in the villages, some of them currently underused. To this background, the solution will also result in enhanced knowledge and village cooperation in energy and resiliency questions.
Civil society representatives
- Aktion Österbotten, the local Leader-group and organisation for rural development
- Svenska Österbottens Ungdomsförbund, concerning local and sustainable energy solutions for buildings
- Finlands svenska hembygdsförbund, concerning local and sustainable energy solutions for buildings (museums)
- Älvbyarna i Östra Korsholm rf, coordinating the civil society group, representing civil society group and the geographical area that the project will be implemented in as well as the local end users of the solution
- Citizens with an interest in the pilot solution
Public sector
- The municipality of Korsholm: Development and energy transition in the municipality of Korsholm
- Regional development, energy transition: The regional business and development company for the Vaasa region, VASEK
Private sector
- Stormossen, a local waste treatment and circular economy company that is jointly owned by six communities.
- Vaasan sähkö – local utility company
Universities and researchers
- Novia University of Applied Sciences

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