Cities4PEDs Atlas_November 2021.pdf

Working document
History and development process
Eeklo’s bankrupt industry at the end of the
1980s brought a lot of poverty, which made the
town not the typical place for green innovation.
In the 1990s, the newly founded cooperative
Ecopower asked the city if wind turbines could
be installed in the municipality of Eeklo. In 1999,
a public call for tender was launched, foreseeing
the construction of three wind turbines on
public land with criteria as “direct citizen
participation,” “comprehensive information for
citizens” and “local added value for the town
and its population.” The criterion “direct citizen
participation” meant only cooperatives were
able to join the call. The criterion local added
value a criterion in the procurement process,
it was ensured that the city’s energy demand
has to be produced in or near the city. In the
call, a minimum of 50% direct participation was
required. Offers which included more than 50%
received extra points. The applicant receiving
highest score won the call.
Following this very first call in 2001, three
cooperative wind turbines were installed.
After a successful second call, five more wind
turbines were added on private land with
two of them owned by a cooperative. Over
the two projects for 8 wind turbines only one
single complaint was handed in but no lawsuit
followed. By comparison, in the rest of Belgium
the construction of more than half of all wind
turbines projects is delayed or cancelled due to
lawsuits. In the third phase, higher authorities
wanted to add another 14 wind turbines. to
safeguard its unique public support for wind
energy, the administration of Eeklo needed
to protect its unique public support for wind
energy and offered citizens a close-end
scenario with both a concentration zone and an
exclusion zone in order to gain their trust and
acceptance. On top of this, in the concentration
zone, inhabitants were asked not just if they
were in favour or against wind turbines, but
under which conditions they would allow the
construction of 14 additional wind turbines. An
agreement was reached in 2014, which included
that 50% of the total project have to be open to
direct citizen participation, 5.000 € per turbine
should be invested into a neighbourhood fund
and 5.000 € per wind turbine should be invested
into a climate fund run by the city. Owners of
land on which turbines have been installed are
receiving a rental fee. In 2019 all permits were
delivered without noticeable opposition and in
2020 all 14 wind turbines became operable in
Eeklo.
Stakeholders
Ecopower, a renewable energy cooperative, won
the call in 1999 and implemented three wind
turbines in 2001, which are now being renewed
and renovated. The shares of Ecopower can be
bought by every citizen, giving them the right
to vote within the cooperative. One person
gets one vote in the cooperative, in contrast to
multinational companies where shareholders
get one vote per stock. This creates a different
dynamic, as the members of a cooperative are
more interested in low energy prices rather than
in high profits and dividends.
It can be observed, that people who are coowning
wind turbines cut their own energy
consumption after three years by 50%. This
means that cooperative wind turbines are
actually producing for twice the number of
households than turbines with a classic business
model. Due to the ownership of wind turbines
shareholders become more aware of their
energy usage. The example of Eeklo shows, that
this cooperative-effect is twofold and brings
both, an increased acceptance for renewables
and a direct energy cut.
The added value generated by the wind
turbines returns as much as possible to the
local community through the citizens owning a
cooperative share but also through an energy
consultant who’s on the payroll of Ecopower.
He’s in charge of accelerating the energy
transition for the town over the last twenty
years. The energy consultant looks out for
new opportunities to produce energy locally,
and makes project suggestions which have to
be commissioned by the city. Because he is
Figure: Eeklo
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