• The Community Transformation Offices (OTC) of the Castilian-Leonese regions will promote these communities • The General Secretary of the IDAE and the General Director of the ITJ, have inaugurated the Office in Cubillos del Sil, which will act as technical secretariat for the eight offices of the community • The centers will offer information, advice and accompaniment to citizens, companies and the public sector

December 19, 2023. – The Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE) and the Fair Transition Institute (ITJ), attached to the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO), will promote the creation of new energy communities in Castilla y León thanks to the eight Community Transformation Offices (OTC) launched in the territory thanks to the funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR). The Autonomous Community has received aid of more than 1.7 million euros, placing it as the third with the highest number of OTC, after Catalonia and Valencia, which have 10 each.

The General Secretary of the IDAE, María Francisca Rivero, and the General Director of the Fair Transition Institute, Laura Martín, have inaugurated the OTC promoted by CIUDEN in Cubillos del Sil —TRANSENERCyL—, which will act as the technical secretariat of the OTC Network in Castilla y León.

Both Rivero and Martín have highlighted the role of citizens and local administrations as transforming agents of the system through a key figure, energy communities, especially important in territories of fair transition and/or demographic challenge. “They allow us to be an active part of the change of our energy system, generating energy that is close, participative and whose economic benefits reach its partners directly,” said Rivero, who recalled that the constitution of the OTC will have a direct impact on employment. In addition to the professionals who will provide services in the office, “these will generate a tractor effect in the economy associated with energy services in their areas of influence” he added.

“Energy communities give just transition territories the opportunity to be key players in energy production. Its creation gives companies the opportunity to settle or stay in these areas generating employment. And this is the main objective of our work”, said Martín, who recalled that this is an additional element to strengthen the role of CIUDEN in the Energy Transition beyond El Bierzo.

The objective of this program is to support the creation of new energy communities of all kinds—citizens, businesses, industrialists—with advisory and accompanying measures to promote this cooperative formula for the production and consumption of renewable energy. It can also incorporate measures of energy efficiency, demand management and sustainable mobility.

In total, the call for the program of aid to Community Transformation Offices (CE OFICINA) has been resolved with the full allocation of the 20 million authorized for the implementation of a total of 79 projects spread throughout much of the national territory. The more than 200 applications received, for a budget that doubled the available budget, shows the great reception of this line of incentives.

SOCIAL AND INCLUSIVE IMPACT

OTCs will contribute to a more inclusive ecological transition through three lines:

• Empowerment of new actors in the energy sector, accompanying them in the activation and dynamization of energy communities of all kinds;
• Expert advice on projects of construction and operation of energy communities: technical, administrative, financial, legal and social, facilitating the processes of debate and participation;
• Training on energy communities, to extend the knowledge about this formula, maximizing the opportunities it offers