The Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia, in cooperation with the Municipality of Ajdovščina, recently organized a study visit to showcase good practices of energy communities at three locations in Slovenia: Ajdovščina, Ljubljana, and Ig. The purpose of the excursion was to empower professional staff of Slovenian municipal administrations and local and regional agencies with knowledge about the importance of local energy communities for electricity self-sufficiency, the process of their establishment, spatial planning aspects, and other related challenges and opportunities.
In the Municipality of Ajdovščina, participants were introduced to the first energy community in Slovenia, established in Budanje, as well as other solar power plants installed on public buildings such as the health center, football stadium, kindergarten Ob Hublju, primary school, and sports center. They also presented the planned solar power plant in Vipavski Križ, which will partly contribute to ensuring the energy neutrality of the new irrigation system and partly supply public institutions.
In addition, the municipality presented other ongoing and planned projects in this field, including the cross-border projects H2READY and CO ADRIA, co-financed by the European Union under the Interreg VI-A Italy–Slovenia Programme. During the excursion, a survey was conducted among participants to support the preparation of guidelines for managing energy communities.
In Ljubljana, a public-private partnership model operating 51 solar power plants was presented, while in Ig, participants learned about Sončni Ig Energy Cooperative, the energy community with the largest total solar capacity, operating as a renewable energy community.
All these good practices stem from the active involvement of local communities in the green transition, climate change adaptation, and efforts to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, as set out in the European objectives.
