Cooperative and commercial ownership

Wednesday, April 11, 2007   (updated Wednesday, August 01, 2007)

Samsø’s district heating systems and wind turbines are organised in many different ways. Ownership spans from municipally owned wind turbines and commercially run district heating plants to privately owned wind turbines and cooperative district heating systems.

Samsø’s district heating systems and windturbines are organised in many different ways, including several different forms of ownership. This was not a specific goal set in the project, but the specific practical possibilities of each project lead to different solutions, and left us with a myriad of different ownership models specific to each renewable energy installation. There are now three technically almost identical straw based district heating systems. One is owned by a cooperatively owned regional utility, NRGi, the second is owned by a local commercial operator and the third is owned and financed locally by the consumers themselves.

Who owns the wind turbines?
Samsø’s wind turbines are organized in several different kinds of ownership. Five of the 10 off-shore wind turbines are owned by the island municipal government, the Municipality of Samsø. The proceeds from the windmills will be reinvested in future energy projects as Danish law does not allow local municipalities to earn money by generating energy. Three of the off-shore turbines are privately owned, for the most part by local farmers who have pooled resources to buy an off-shore wind turbine. The last two are sold on a cooperative basis to many small shareholders. One of these cooperatives is organized as Paludan Flak I/S, a locally based initiative. The other is a professional investment foundation, Difko I/S.

The 11 1MW wind turbines established on the island as one of the energy island’s first projects are also owned in different ways. Nine are owned privately by local formers or small groups of farmers. Two are owned by locally based cooperatives with many small local shareholders.

Straw, woodchip and solar thermal heating plants also have diverse forms of ownership
Samsø’s district heating systems are also owned in different ways. The cooperatively owned regional utility, NRGi, owns and operates the straw based heating plant in Tranebjerg and the combination woodchip/solar heating plant in Nordby/Mårup on normal commercial terms. The straw-based plant in Ballen/Brundby is a consumer owned heating system owned exclusively by the consumers themselves. The district heating system is run by a locally elected committee. Every consumer is eligible for election and the elected members are the governing body for the heating plant. The heating plant in Onsbjerg is organized as a limited company owned by the local contracter, the Kremmer Jensen brothers. The plant is run by a local committee with consumer and municipal representation. The former have two seats, while the island municipal council has one seat. There are also a number of smaller, so-called neighbourhood district heating plants, systems set up to heat some few houses, a school or an institution, f. eks. The straw based boilers at Samsø Jr. College and Brattingsborg Castle, and the wood pellet furnace at the Samsø Folk High School.

The facts: The consumer prices in each system

Tranebjerg – run on normal commercial terms:
Annual fixed rate for installation: kr. 2.695
Price pr. MWh:   kr.    772

Nordby/Mårup – run on normal commercial terms:
Annual fixed rate for installation: kr. 2.564 
Price pr. MWh:   kr.    688 

Ballen/Brundby – consumer owned:
Annual fixed rate for installation: kr. 2.500
Price pr. MWh:   kr.    675

Onsbjerg – private company ltd:
Annual fixed rate for installation: kr. 2.600
Price pr. MWh:   kr.    665