Amel-Büllingen

This project consists of  4 wind turbines in the municipalities Amel and Büllingen, in the German speaking region of Belgium.  Both municipalities already had a wind farm on their territory and knew how important it was to involve local citizens. They had seen the success of Courant d'Air in Waimes and decided that citizen engagement should be a number one priority when considering new projects. As a consequence, the municipal councils of both Amel and Büllingen decided to organise a public tender for the development, construction and operational management of a wind farm. Grid capacity had been reserved years before by the municipalities.

The public tender was launched in June 2015 and explicitly requested the participation of both local citizens and the municipalities. The level of engagement had a strong impact in the final evaluation and prior to selecting a service provider. Courant d'Air and Ecopower submitted a joint proposal offering up to 60% of the project to the municipalities. The remaining 40% would stay in the hands of local citizens through the cooperatives. In addition, Courant d'Air and Ecopower included a series of energy efficiency measures in their offer mainly targeting private homes and public buildings. They won the tendering procedure. EDF - who also responded to the public tender - immediately appealed against the decision but then decided to leave it there soon after. Courant d'Air is now preparing everything to obtain the licenses.