Sibelga facilitates the emergence of energy communities in Brussels and participates in highlighting the architectural treasures of Brussels.

Sibelga facilitates the emergence of energy communities

Thanks to the principle of energy sharing, consumers can form energy communities and benefit from green energy produced by one or more self-producers in their neighbourhood at a reduced price.

Sibelga plays a facilitating role in this innovative market, which is still in the experimental phase in Brussels, by ensuring the safety of the installations, installing the necessary communicating meters, providing technical information and transmitting the data required for billing consumption to the organising legal entity.

In April 2021, the Greenbizz.energy community was launched. Located in a business park in Laeken, it supplies 10 companies with green electricity thanks to 943 photovoltaic panels.

Energy communities can also provide access to green energy for disadvantaged customers. In Saint-Gilles, for example, the Sun Sud energy community will enable the residents of a social housing building belonging to the foyer du Sud to benefit from the energy produced by photovoltaic panels.

In addition, the Marius Renard community, located in Anderlecht, concerns a very large building with 27 floors and 450 apartments. The co-owners will be able to use the electricity produced via a cogeneration unit (simultaneous production of heat and power via natural gas) within the building. “This is the first energy community of this size based on cogeneration: it is very interesting because we will be able to analyze the impact on customer consumption and check whether this model can be replicated,” explains Odile Macé, Innovation Officer at Sibelga.

It should be noted that these experimental projects were made possible thanks to the derogations from the market and tariff rules that the regulator Brugel was able to grant to certain innovative projects, as provided for in the Electricity Ordinance.

An agreement for the lighting of remarkable buildings in Brussels

Enhancing the value of the city’s real estate heritage also involves lighting! Several emblematic buildings and squares in the capital, such as the Grand-Place or the Mont des Arts, already benefit from atmospheric night lighting. But Brussels has many other remarkable buildings, less well known, which testify to the richness of its architectural heritage and deserve a better visibility.

Based on this observation, Urban.brussels, the Brussels public service for urban planning and heritage, signed a framework agreement with Sibelga in May 2021 for the study and implementation of lighting projects. A budget of €1.5 million has been allocated for this. The projects will be carried out within 3 years.

This will be a great opportunity for the people of Brussels to (re)discover the architectural treasures of their city and to promote our heritage to foreign visitors!