Slavutych City Council won the Contest “Best Practices of Local Self-Government” 2020 (the first-degree Diploma) with the practice “Establishment of a municipal energy cooperative in Slavutych for the construction of a solar power plant at the expense of local residents”.

The municipal energy cooperative “Sunny City” was created at the joint initiative of Slavutych City Council and NGO “Greencubator”. This project brought together the resources of the city, local community, and members of the cooperative on a crowdfunding basis (cooperative common cost) to create a powerful solar power plant located on the roofs of three municipal buildings on a lease.

Everyone living in the city could join the cooperative community. The cost of one share was 15 thousand UAH. Thus, the city council involved an internal investor – residents of Slavutych community, who have the right to vote making decisions about the energy cooperative. The main activity of the cooperative “Sunny City” is the construction and operation of solar power plants and selling electricity at a “green” tariff.

Municipal energy cooperative “Sunny City” is the first cooperative in Ukraine which created a solar power plant at the expense of residents and made them co-owners of an energy asset and gave the city energy independence.

Applications for the Contest “Best Practices of Local Self-Government” 2021 are accepted until 30 September, more information is here.