Working together for the wind
Let Energy Cooperative De Knotwilg blow instead of prune. For this energy cooperative, the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts. A conversation about cooperative values and norms.
No branch out of the region. That was the slogan with which Energiecoöperatie de Knotwilg launched in 2013 to ensure that prunings from the Albasserwaard-Vijfheerenlanden region were preserved for the biomass district heating system that was in the pipeline. District heating did not materialize, but Energiecoöperatie de Knotwilg stayed and shifted its focus from wood chips to wind energy.
We-are-gonna-do-it-together feeling
“Co-founder Jos van Oosten had contact with Eneco who wanted to place two windmills along the A2 near Vianen. As a cooperative, we got involved and agreed with Eneco that fifty percent of the return from the windmills would go to the cooperative,” explained chairman Koos Timmer. The other fifty percent would be for Eneco, but in the negotiations on this, the cooperative did not come to an agreement. “We missed the ‘we-are-gonna-do-it-together’ feeling,” explains secretary Aad Rodenburg. “With Eneco we still worked on Windpark de Groote Haar in Gorinchem. Eneco wanted to sell this wind farm at some point and that’s how we ended up with GreenTrust. We worked with them on wind farm Zijderveld. They did give the together-doing feeling.” Together they are now developing Groote Haar wind farm. “At GreenTrust the lines are short and the cooperative feeling is embedded in the whole organization.”
Energy is jointly owned
But what then is that cooperative feeling? “The common interest has to be greater than the individual interest,” says Koos Timmer. “That’s what GreenTrust has in mind. Like us, they aim for the proceeds to flow partly back to the community and partly to the cooperative to start other sustainable projects.”
In addition to wind energy, the energy cooperative is working with nature and environmental federations, the municipality and a number of members to investigate how a heat network can be realized to make Gorinchem natural gas-free. “We see it as our task to get people off the gas by using geothermal heat and heat pumps as an alternative,” says Koos Timmer. “Renewable energy is jointly owned. Our aim is to make the region energy independent.”
To make that happen, it’s a matter of always bringing all 250 members of the cooperative along with the developments going on and showing the importance of sustainable energy and energy independence, outlines Aad Rodenburg. “The development of Groote Haar wind farm is proceeding with difficulty. At the moment we are still waiting for a ruling from the Council of State on the construction of two wind turbines that have been objected to. This process runs from 2021 and costs money. The amount we needed to appeal was raised by some of our members. That gives us confidence as a board that we are pursuing the same thing together and for each other: renewable energy from local energy sources. Look, we are not just doing it for ourselves but more importantly for the generations to come after us. Fortunately, more and more people are realizing that.”
