Energy sharing and energy communities
Abbreviated form of legal source(s)
Decree 1133/2020
Decree 767/2021
Decree 590/2013
Summary
Energy sharing was incorporated to the Finnish legislation only in late 2020, when the Decree 1133/2020 was passed in the Parliament. The 2020 update to the Decree contains provisions on sharing electricity produced together in a community or cooperative, which refers to a single building or a group of buildings located close to each other geographically.
In Article 3 of the Decree 767/2021 Energy Community is a community:
1) that produces, supplies, consumes, aggregates, or stores energy, or provides energy efficiency services, electric vehicle charging services, or other energy services to its members or shareholders;
2) that is based on voluntary and open participation;
3) in which actual control is exercised by its members or shareholders;
4) whose members or shareholders are natural persons, municipalities, other local authorities, or small and medium-sized enterprises;
5) whose primary purpose is to provide benefits related to the environment, economy, or social community to its members or shareholders, or the region in which it operates, rather than to generate financial profit;
6) whose electricity consumption points are measured by the distribution system operator;
7) whose members' or shareholders' electricity consumption points are located on the same property or equivalent group of properties and connected to the distribution network via a single connection with the distribution system operator; and
8) whose electricity production equipment and energy storage are part of the connection mentioned in item 7.
The decree stipulates the rules for netting of consumption and production in the balance settlement and calculating the compensation of jointly produced electricity for each consumption point. The transitional period of the decree ended on January 1, 2023, and since then the netting and calculation on compensation inside the imbalance settlement period shall be offered by the Datahub. Prior to this, and as regards the calculation of compensation until the June 30, 2023, the provisions allowed DSOs to voluntarily provide these services in their distribution network for members of the local energy communities or the group of active customers.
Addressees
Energy services providing groups consisting of natural persons, companies, municipalities or other local authorities
Requirements and conditions
Energy sharing, production and storage is only possible within a single building or a group of buildings producing and consuming energy for the usage of their residents or parties. Sharing cannot aim at making a financial profit but to provide non-monetary benefits.
Geographical limitations
Only local energy sharing the same grid connection point is possible: sharing is limited to the residents of the same building or group of buildings.
Financial support
Currently there is no financial support available for energy communities.
Type of energy sharing
- Production, supply, consumption, aggregation, storage
- Provision of energy efficiency services, electric vehicle charging services, or other energy services