The Euskadi Higher Council of Cooperatives shows its support for the Ekiola project, for highlighting a participatory model in the energy sector
Those responsible for the initiative, promoted by EVE (Basque Energy Entity) and KREAN engineering, have presented their proposal for the creation of local energy consumption cooperatives to the CSCE-EKGK plenary session
Vitoria-Gasteiz, May 14, 2021. The Euskadi Superior Council of Cooperatives has learned first-hand the details of Ekiola Energia Sustapenak, the public-private initiative for the promotion of citizen cooperatives for sustainable energy generation.
Ekiola is promoted by EVE and KREAN engineering, whose managers have presented the project to the plenary session of the Euskadi Higher Council of Cooperatives, held this week at the Álava Technology Park. The presentation was attended by Iñigo Ansola, general director of the Basque Energy Entity, as well as Asier Etxabe and Carlos Beracierto, representing KREAN, and Amagoia Barandiaran, director of Ekiola Energia Sustapenak.
The president of the CSCE-EKGK, Patxi Olabarria, showed his support for Ekiola because “it represents an opportunity to value the cooperative model”. For this reason, on behalf of the plenary, Olabarria conveyed to the promoters of the project the willingness of the cooperative movement to collaborate in the correct implementation of the model.
The creation of cooperatives in the energy sector represents a new boost to the values of participation, sustainability and innovation that cooperativism fosters. The plenary session of the Higher Council of Cooperatives of Euskadi has valued very positively the fact that they are local cooperatives in which there is direct participation of consumers in the management, therefore rooting in the territory is also encouraged.
From Ekiola they also asked the CSCE-EKGK for advice to achieve the objective of constituting these cooperatives as socially integrated companies, “that do not lose their values and whose purpose is based on solidarity. And here the cooperative movement has a lot of prominence to be able to carry out a great project”.
