Castello Green House (Italy)

Castello Green House is a cooperative REC with mutualistic purposes, which pursues environmental, economic, and social benefits for its members, the community and the local areas in which it operates through the production and management of conscious, eco-sustainable and participatory RES. It works towards the purchase and sale of energy-environmental goods and/or services to the best economic conditions for members, aiming to improve their material and cultural wellbeing. The Project aims at the overall energy requalification, energy efficiency (EE) and installation of systems for the production of renewable electricity (RES), of residential buildings. The project aims to make 9 buildings more efficient and to involve a further 11 for the production of RES. Within these, we find 511 real estate units (492 residences and 19 commercial activities) of which 320 in 9 buildings affected by both EE and RES interventions and 132 real estate units (residential) subject to RES interventions only (4 buildings, all 132 residences). Through participation in the program, the initiative aims to acquire knowledge regarding the choice of functional IT tools to maximize the efficiency of the services provided, the engagement of new members, including the ones with different consumption profiles from those who have already joined the REC, and knowledge around best practices, which can help the REC to expand its scope.

The specific needs of the CER, which has initiated paths in various territories (different configurations managed by the CER to achieve economies and synergies while maintaining a strong bond with communities), relate to skills/experiences not yet present within the CER. They concern: (1) the selection of IT tools to maximize the efficiency/effectiveness of the services provided; (2) the engagement of new members, even with different consumption profiles than those who have already joined the CER; (3) sharing of best practices available/applicable within the CER but also in connections with other CERs, both to improve the CER's performance and to support its growth.

The assistance will provide SUPPORT for (1) identifying IT solutions for managing a CER that best fit the specific configurations planned for the short and medium term, (2) choosing solutions to involve multiple types of actors and buildings in the CER to increase and effectively ground the potential impact in the territories where it already operates (with the active involvement of entities other than the founding CER entities, also characterized by different consumption profiles, to maximize the percentage of energy shared within the community, and to "activate" and make "effective" sensitivity towards themes/objectives/challenges that the CER represents) and in the territories where it plans to operate in the future (it already has an additional configuration in the pipeline in Ferrara, in the Eastern zone), (3) expanding and sharing the spectrum of successful solutions, both technological (envelope, plant, management) and non-technological.

The expected BENEFITS are: (1) acquiring, installing, and managing hardware/software technologies that, on the user side, can enhance requalification actions, facilitate changes in usage habits, and maximize self-consumption and energy sharing, and on the management side, instrument administrative, economic, and energy flow management processes for better efficiency in the services provided; (2) enabling a continuous growth path of the CER within individual configurations and with the extension of the number of configurations, also in collaboration with the reference associative system (Legacoop Emilia-Romagna), (3) being able to use and spread as much as possible the most advanced and tested/guaranteed effective solutions to contribute to effective decarbonisation and climate change mitigation, expanding services over time, also considering expected changes in the energy market, in conditions of safety (energy, administrative, management) for the CER.