Some territories have a natural talent for turning distance into connection.
Valsesia — a valley of mountain villages in Northern Italy, bound by strong traditions of cooperation — is one of them. Today, that same spirit of solidarity is taking a new form: the Renewable Energy Community (REC) of Valsesia, a project promoted by the Unione Montana dei Comuni della Valsesia (Union of Mountain Municipalities of Valsesia) with the technical and strategic support of EnGreen.
This is not just about solar panels or incentives. It’s a collective vision of how a territory can rethink its energy model — reducing dependence on fossil fuels, retaining economic value locally, and strengthening social ties through a clean, shared, and community-managed energy network.
The project was launched with a clear goal: to create a shared model of energy production and consumption, based on distributed photovoltaic systems aggregated through a cooperative approach.
The Valsesia Energy Community will start with approximately 600 kW of installed capacity, spread across public and private rooftops, schools, municipal buildings, and small local businesses.
Behind these numbers lies a deeper change: energy is no longer just a commodity — it becomes a common good, managed and valued by those who live in the territory.
According to the three-year plan, the first phase (2025) focuses on awareness and engagement — informing, explaining, and building trust.
In 2026, the first installations and energy-sharing operations will start, while 2027 will mark the expansion and consolidation phase, bringing in new members and investments.
EnGreen’s role: strategy, engineering, and vision
Alongside the Unione Montana, EnGreen plays a central role as both technical and strategic partner, guiding the community through every phase — from technical and financial feasibility to legal establishment, all the way to design and implementation of the photovoltaic systems.
EnGreen’s strength lies in combining engineering expertise with systemic thinking.
Each Renewable Energy Community becomes part of a broader vision: decarbonising territories through shared governance and local energy autonomy.
EnGreen’s approach is built on three main pillars:
- Technical reliability – every plant is sized according to the real consumption profiles of its members, maximising collective self-consumption and minimising waste.
- Economic sustainability – the project accesses PNRR national recovery funds, covering up to 40% of investment costs for municipalities under 50,000 inhabitants, and benefits from GSE incentives for shared energy.
- Participatory governance – EnGreen supports the community in defining a transparent and inclusive decision-making model where citizens, businesses, and public entities collaborate as equals.
The result is a bottom-up energy transition that is both concrete and replicable, where technology becomes a tool for strengthening local autonomy and social cohesion.
The impact on Valsesia: clean energy, local economy, stronger communities
The impact of the Valsesia REC cannot be measured only in kilowatt-hours.
It means cutting CO₂ emissions, but also retaining economic value within the territory — investing in local supply chains and generating a multiplier effect on the valley’s economy.
The distributed installations will create new opportunities for local businesses — installers, technicians, suppliers — while citizens will gain access to cleaner, more affordable energy, actively contributing to the decarbonisation of their community.
The business plan ensures financial sustainability from year one, through a mix of public funds, membership fees, and revenues from the sale of surplus energy.
The initial investment — about €50,000–60,000 per year during the launch phase — is partly supported by EnGreen as a technical and financial contribution, reducing the burden on local authorities and speeding up the development of the first installations.
Yet, the true value of the Valsesia REC goes beyond economics: it’s cultural and social.
It’s about building awareness — a community capable of understanding and managing its own energy. It’s about creating trust among institutions, businesses, and citizens — a collective commitment to sustainability.
The project led by the Unione Montana dei Comuni della Valsesia demonstrates how the energy transition can grow from the ground up.
Not from large plants or multinational corporations, but from local communities deciding to rethink the way they produce and use energy.
In this process, EnGreen acts as a facilitator of complex transitions: translating regulations into actionable steps, simplifying bureaucracy, coordinating public and private actors, and providing digital tools for monitoring and smart energy management.
Each community is also a living lab for energy education — a place where sustainability becomes not just an ethical choice, but a shared skill to develop together.
The Valsesia Renewable Energy Community, led by the Unione Montana with the support of EnGreen, is a model of local innovation and energy resilience.
It merges public planning and private expertise, technical know-how and citizen participation — transforming a mountain valley into a real laboratory for the energy transition.
If the ecological transition is the great challenge of our time, the answer begins here: in communities that choose not to wait for change, but to create it.
Valsesia is already doing it — one rooftop at a time, one installation at a time, one community at a time.
Because regenerating energy means regenerating communities — and the future of energy, in many ways, has already begun here.
