Coopérnico loses 300 clients in 2021

Portugal’s only renewables cooperative, Coopérnico has lost 15% of its client base in 2021 at a time when it was growing to nearly 2,000 clients.

The reason is restrictions on getting access to raw materials caused by the pandemic; pressure put on the energy sector to comply with zero emissions by 2050; and the increasing tension between the European Union and Russia over concerns that Moscow could invade the Ukraine.
Coopérnco was the first renewable energy cooperative in Portugal to sell electricity throughout the entire country at competitive prices. The customers are also the actual owners of the energy company.
The company, which has been in operation for eight years, had 2294 clients, €1,858,500 in investment and 1,389 contracts.
Coopérnico was founded by a group of 16 citizens from different professional areas and backgrounds who all care about sustainable development.
The cooperative’s goal is to create the first energy community led by Portuguese citizens and help develop a self-consumption collective for energy transition and respective environmental and economic benefits.
An example is a building in which six families live which have invested in a total of five 450Wp photovoltaic modules, with a production capacity of 3307 kWh per annum, thereby making energy consumption cleaner and more self-sufficient.
Coopérnico estimates that each family with these solar panel modules saves around €145 annually.
One of the founders, Nuno Brito Jorge told the online news source ECO, “It doesn’t make sense to continue to ignore the challenges of sustainability or the energy crisis being experienced in Europe when we have decentralised energy solutions that are fairer, more economical and have less impact on the environment”.
At the present time, Coopérnico has almost 2,300 cooperative members who have already invested in solar panel systems in over 30 social sector entities.
All told, the supported projects represent an investment of €1.86 million in decentralised solar panel modular systems installed in over 30 socio-economic entities up and down the country.
In addition to an average energy bill saving of 30% per annum, the environment also stands to gain with a saving of 624 tonnes of CO2.