Section: General | DISCOVER the PROJECT - New and Advanced Service in France with APC!

Hello APC!

We have learnt about the existing services in Europe and in France through the Specific Guidebook, and you took the most of that collection work to design a New and Advanced Service specifically for your context. Can you now say something about it? What is this Service about?

The service aims at supporting the Parisian condominiums in the first steps of their photovoltaic project and incite them to form local communities for energy sharing.

What's the creation process behind this tool?

We have started from two key points. First, we could capitalize on our approach at APC as the current Parisian one-stop-shop for energy renovation of condominiums. More than a third of all Parisian condominiums are registered to our web platform Coachcopro and are supported through their first steps of renovation. From this experience, we knew we would have to support in a tailored fashion the first community energy projects. However, we didn’t know yet which form it would take.

The second key resource we could draw on included the existing guidebooks and information websites about PV and Energy communities, and of course our many exchanges with stakeholders and close partners. It made clear to us that technical economical and legal aspects would be necessary to clarify at first.

French Context

Why such tool is needed in your context? How would it impact the French/regional context?

Condominium rooftops cumulate a great surface for solar energy in Paris, and, as collective housing, condominiums are a form of community to activate for energy sharing. However, extremely few condominium buildings are equipped with PV to date, and none of them are sharing energy (as far as we know).

The service is an answer to the first hurdle we have identified from the point of view of condominiums. Co-owners must be reassured about the opportunity to launch a project. They need to be prepared to pay a few thousand euros for a professional feasibility study; They need to know their building potential and constraints, economic basic data, and how to organize themselves.

What kind of difficulties did you encounter preparing this service(s)? and why?

Creating a dynamic around PV in Paris takes time. The first challenge is to be prepared to act in the long run. It implies public support is given to our association.

Then, understanding the variety of needs from our users, private actors, individuals or small collectives, is not an easy task. It requires knowledge of how a condominium functions and how a PV community functions (this later topic was mostly new to APC), and it requires continuous testing of the service. 2025 is the launching year and testing year.

Characteristics of the service

How does it work? and who is it for?

It is very easy to use. It is free, independent and neutral. It is just about knowing that APC offers the service. You write an email to our dedicated email address (photovoltaic@apc-paris.com). If your building qualifies with enough potential for PV, you are proposed an interview with an advisor . After all the necessary email exchanges (telephone or even on-site visit if needed), a few weeks or months later, you will have a view of the opportunity to launch a project, at which cost and benefit, and in which form.

If your building does not qualify with enough potential for PV, you are offered support for other renewable energy sources and the energy renovation of your building.

Can you tell the main elements of innovation of the Service(s)?

There is nothing new in terms of technology. What we offer, is to use, as technical experts, the existing technology to calculate solar yield and economic parameters and other relevant aspects (legal, social, architectural).

It is the human support, the tailored approach in the long run, and the independence from the market, that make it valuable for small, unprofessional market actors that are condominiums, and that make it and important for the sake of public policies.

Future Steps

What are the future steps now?

This Spring, we came to a first operational version of the service. We have received rich feedback on it from selected stakeholders and partners in the last 3 months. So far, technical and economic aspects have been dealt with. We are now working on legal aspects. We will also develop the architectural and social aspects. The service will be tested throughout the second semester of 2025.

Additionally, and as a complement, we are developing information leaflets and other events to raise awareness among condominiums about the benefits of developing photovoltaic (PV) systems.

Thanks for your time APC, and good luck with your work!

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