Page 1 of 9: This part of the survey focuses on the statistical data of your
cooperative.
1) Cooperative Name [field to enter]
2) Country [field to enter]
3) When was your cooperative founded? [field to enter]
Year:
4) When did your cooperative initiate its primary activities?
Year:
5) How many members does the cooperative have? [one choice]
a) 1 – 10
b) 11 – 20
c) 21 – 50
d) 51 – 100
e) 101 – 200
f) 201 – 500
g) 501 – 1000
h) 1001 and above
i) Don't know
6) What is your cooperative’s membership geographic reach?
a) Local or Regional
b) Nacional
c) Other
7) Does your cooperative observe the one member one vote principle?
a) Yes
b) No
8) Do you incorporate the seven ICA cooperative principles in your activities?
a) Voluntary and open membership
b) Democratic member control
c) Member economic participation
d) Autonomy and independence
e) Education, training and information
f) Co-operation among co-operatives
g) Concern for community
9) To which of the following categories does your cooperative belong to (select
multiples if applicable)?
a) Generation/production
b) Distribution/transmission
c) Trading/green power purchasing
d) Services in RES (i.e. Consultancy, engineering, legal services, certification, etc)
e) Other (please specify):
10) Which technologies does your cooperative employ for electricity generation?
[multiselect]
a) Hydro power
b) Wind power
c) Solar PV
d) Solar thermal
e) Geothermal
f) Biomass, Liquid biofuels
g) Wave/tidal
h) District heating cooperative
i) Other [specify]
11) Please provide further information about your renewable electricity generation
Hydro power
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
Wind power
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
Solar PV
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
Solar thermal
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
Geothermal
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
Biomass, liquid biofuels
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
Wave/Tidal
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
District heating cooperative
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
Other
What is your installed capacity? (please indicate in MW)
Do you benefit from feed-in contracts? (please answer yes or no)
Is renewable electricity generation economically viable without a feed-in contract?
(please answer yes or no)
12) What is the total installed capacity of your project [one choice]
a) under 500
b) 500 – 1000
c) 1001 – 1500
d) 1501 – 2500
e) 2501 – 5000
f) 5001 – 10000
g) 10001 – 25000
h) 25001 – 50000
i) 50000 and above
j) Don't know
13) What is the cooperative's yearly production (in kWh)? Please enter a number. [field
to enter]
14) What was the overall investment in all of your energy production facilities [in the
local currency]? [field to enter]
Motivation to join the cooperative
1) A
2) Would you say that the motivations to became a member of the cooperative
were different for founding members compared to those joining later and new
members, and of so how do they differ?
This part of the survey focuses in support policies
1) Have you been satisfied with historical support policies for renewable energy
deployment in your country? (1=not satisfied at all; 7=absolutely satisfied)
2) Have support policies for renewable energy recently undergone changes in your
country that impact your activities, or do you expect such adjustments in the
policies to be enacted in the near future?
i) Yes
ii) No
3) How do you expect the new support schemes to impact your cooperative’s
activities? (1=very negatively; 7=very positively)
4) Have you, or do you plan to adjust, broaden or narrow your activities as a result
of changes in the renewable support policies and general legislative environment
for your field of activities?
i) Yes
ii) No
5) If you answered “yes” to the previous question (4), please provide a description
of the actions you are taking or which you plan to take?
6) Do support policies in you country establish a level playing field for all actors in
the renewable energy sector? (1=quite favorable for large scale corporate actors;
7=quite favorable for small scale community energy solutions, including
cooperatives)
7) As a cooperative, does your national legislation allow preferential tax treatment
steming from your activities and revenues? (thanks to regional or national laws
on taxation of cooperatives)
a. Yes
b. No
8) Please indicate how important the preferential tax treatment is for your
continued work and competitiveness with private and public energy producers.
(1= not important; 7=highly important)
[]
9) Does your cooperative provide non-monetary added value to your community?
(region and members)
a. Yes
b. No
10) Please describe if and which kind of non-monetary added value your cooperative
provides to your community? (region and members)
11) Do you agree with a new definition of renewable energy community in the
Renewable Energy Directive (RED), Article 22, p.28: "... shall be an SME or
not-for-profit organization, the shareholders or members of which cooperate in
the generation, distribution, storage or supply of energy from renewable
sources, fulfilling at least four out of the following criteria:
a) shareholders or members are natural persons, local authorities, including
municipalities, or SMEs operating in the fields or renewable energy;
b) at least 51% of the shareholders or members with voting rights of the entity
are natural persons;
c) at least 51% of the shares or participation rights of the entity are owned by
local members, i.e. representatives of local public and local private socio-
economic interests or citizens having a direct interest in the community
activity and its impacts;
d) at least 51% of the seats in the board of directors or managing bodies of the
entity are reserved to local members, i.e. representatives of local public and
local private socio-economic interests or citizens having a direct interest in
the community activity and its impacts;
e) the community has not installed more than 18 MW of renewable capacity for
electricity, heating and cooling and a yearly average in the previous 5 years.
12) Do you agree with a new definition of local renewable energy in the Internal
Energy Market Directive for electricity (IEM for electricity), Article 2, p. 52: "...
means: an association, a cooperative, a partnership, a non-profit organization
or other legal entity which is effectively controlled by local shareholders or
members, generally value rather than profit-driven, involved in distribution
system operator, supplier or aggregator at the local level, including across
borders ... "
This part of the survey focuses in depth on financial aspects concerning your
cooperative.
1) What is the minimum financial commitment of one member [in the local currency]?
Please enter a number. [field to enter]
2) Is there a maximum capital contribution? [one choice]
a. Yes
b. No
c. Don’t know
3) How did you finance the membership? [multiselect]
a. Saved capital
b. Bank loan
c. Don't know
d. Other [specify]
4) Are you selling the electricity only to your members? [one choice]
a. Yes
b. No
c. Don’t know
5) Does the price of one share resemble a certain energy consumption? [one choice]
a. Yes
b. No
c. Don’t know
6) What is the price of one generated kWh [in the local currency]? Please enter a
number. [field to enter]
7) Does your cooperative have members from other countries? [one choice]
a. Yes
b. No
c. Don’t know
8) Does your cooperative issue different classes of membership shares, such as invester
shares? (if share classes that you issue are not listed please indicate in the “other”
field. You may add as many as necessary by clicking on (+1) at the end of the
multiple-choice list.
Investor shares yes no
Preferential shares yes no
Other: yes no
9) Please describe the rights and responsibilities of investor members, where they
differ from regular members (share price and minimal volume, voting rights, etc.)
10) A
11) Does your cooperatives work with local/cooperative/ethical banks?
a. Local banks yes no
b. Cooperatives banks yes no
c. Ethical banks yes no
12) Do you establish partnerships with other local entities, private or public?
(businesses, municipality, public services, etc.)
13) What was your average revenue during the last three years?
14) What is the cooperatives debt to equity ratio? This question is formulated because
Cooperatives have been the organizational model that has been least exposed to debt
and loan related challenges during the ongoing recession.
: This part of the survey focuses on the statistical data of your cooperative.
Please allow a few follow-up questions. If you are unsure, please leave the
textboxes empty.
1) How many customers outside the cooperative do you have? Please enter a number.
[field to enter] [shows up, if the participant answered “yes” on question 7, page 2]
2) How much energy consumption does one share resemble in kWh? Please enter a
number. [field to enter] [shows up, if the participant answered “yes” on question 5,
page 2]
3) What is the maximum financial commitment in [local currency]? Please enter a
number. [field to enter] [shows up, if the participant answered “yes” on question 2,
page 2]
Cooperative legal and organizational structure
1) What is the exact legal person form of your cooperative, used in the appropriate
registry? Please provide the answer in your language.
2) Does your cooperative have employees?
a. Yes
b. No
3) If your answered “yes” to the previous question, please indicate how many.
4) Is your cooperative a member of a second-tier cooperative or any other
association of cooperatives or renewable energy support organizations (national,
regional, European)?
a. Yes
b. No
5) Does your cooperative actively pursue lobbying with local, national or
supranational (e.g. European Commission) authorities?
a. Yes
b. No
This section will explain the terms management board, supervisory board and
general assembly. “Management board” means a group of people in charge of the
cooperative’s day to day business. “Supervisory board” describes a board that
supervises the management board and checks upon its activity. The “general
assembly” is open to all members of the cooperative and makes important
decisions.
1) Does your cooperative have a management board? [one choice]
a) Yes
b) No
2) Does your cooperative have a supervisory board? [one choice]
a) Yes
b) No
3) Does your cooperative have a general assembly? [one choice]
a) Yes
b) No
Please allow a few follow-up questions on the aspects of corporate governance.
This data will be used to analyze whether cooperatives differ a lot in their
organizational structure from regular companies.
1) How many members does your management board have? [dropdown, one choice]
[shows up, if the participant answered “yes” on question 1, page 4]
a) 1-9 [each number is an individual option]
b) 10 and above
c) Don’t know
2) Are your management board members being paid for fulfilling that function? [one
choice] [shows up, if the participant answered “yes” on question 1, page 4]
a) Yes
b) yes, but they only receive an expense allowance
c) no
d) I do not want to answer
e) don't know
3) How often do the management board members meet? [one choice] [shows up, if the
participant answered “yes” on question 1, page 4]
a) Weekly
b) Monthly
c) Bimonthly
d) Semiannually
e) Annually
f) don't know
4) The management board members are chosen by [one choice] [shows up, if the
participant answered “yes” on question 1, page 4]
a) the general assembly
b) the supervisory board
c) They are not chose, but have constituted themselves naturally
d) not applicable
e) don't know
5) How many members does your supervisory board have? [dropdown, one choice]
[shows up, if the participant answered “yes” on question 2, page 4]
a) 1-9 [each number is an individual option]
b) 10 and above
c) Don’t know
6) Are your supervisory board members being paid for fulfilling that function? [one
choice] [shows up, if the participant answered “yes” on question 2, page 4]
a) Yes
b) yes, but they only receive an expense allowance
c) no
d) I do not want to answer
e) don't know
7) How often do the supervisory board members meet? [one choice] [shows up, if the
participant answered “yes” on question 2, page 4]
a) Weekly
b) Monthly
c) Bimonthly
d) Semiannually
e) Annually
f) don't know
8) The supervisory board members are chosen by [one choice] [shows up, if the
participant answered “yes” on question 2, page 4]
a) the general assembly
b) the management board
c) They are not chose, but have constituted themselves naturally
d) not applicable
e) don't know
9) How often does your general assembly take place per year? [one choice] [shows up,
if the participant answered “yes” on question 3, page 4]
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3 and above
d) don't know
10) Which percentage of all cooperative's members takes part in the general assembly?
one choice] [shows up, if the participant answered “yes” on question 3, page 4]
a) Scroll bar between 1 and 100 percent
Drivers and barriers for renewable energy cooperatives
1)
2) What measures, if any do you take towards addressing the barriers that you
indicated as barriers in the previous questions?
3)
If not listed, please use the empty fields to indicate other conditions that you consider to
be drivers for renewable energy cooperatives. You can add extra fields if necessary by
clicking on "+1" at the bottom of the multiple choice list.
4) Is there a difference between renewable energy cooperatives in northern Europe
(eg Germany) and southern Europe (Portugal, Italy, Spain and Greece)?
5) What factors contribute most to this difference?
a. Legislative framework
b. Policy environment
c. Financial support
d. Other
6) Do you have any additional comments? [field to enter]
