Energy Communities in Lejre Municipality

Energy communities represent a new way of organising the production, distribution, and consumption of energy at the local level. In recent years, the terms citizen energy community and renewable energy community have been introduced in both European and Danish legislation, formalising the concept of energy communities.

However, the idea of participating in a community with the purpose of producing and supplying energy is not new. Denmark has a long tradition of consumer‑owned district heating companies, which supply a large share of Danish households with heat.

What is new about energy communities is the opportunity to explore and deliver a broader range of energy services. Energy communities can also help incentivise a better balance between local energy consumption and production, thereby reducing the need for costly expansions of the electricity grid.

Lejre Municipality commissioned Ea Energy Analyses to explore the potential for establishing energy communities in the municipality, with a particular focus on Kirke Hyllinge. The analysis was intended to inspire potential energy projects in other parts of Lejre Municipality.

The work included mapping existing plans for energy communities in Kirke Hyllinge and, based on this, developing a number of example concepts for potential energy communities. For each example, the organisational structure, technologies, and potential synergies between technological solutions were described, and possible advantages and disadvantages were highlighted. Finally, an economic assessment was carried out for the most promising concepts involving wind turbines and solar PV.