Collective self-consumers
Slovenia has adopted a bylaw (Regulation on self-supply with electricity from renewable energy sources) that entered into force on May 1st 2019 (Government of the Republic of Slovenia 2019). Slovenia treats the regulation not yet as a transposition of the Clean Energy Package but as a way to stimulate the private investments into renewable energy (RES) generation and an important step towards a later transposition. In addition to individual self-consumption of the owners of individual houses that was already in force, it allows for two forms of CSC:
- CSC in multi-apartment buildings, where the inhabitants can share energy from a RES-generation unit connected to the LV network of the building. All the consumption metering points (of the individual consumers and of the joint consumption) are connected to the LV network of the building. The RES production unit is located on the building and is connected through its own metering point to the point of common coupling of the building network with the LV distribution grid.
- CSC in “RES communities” that can be formed by customers in various types of dwellings. The RES production unit can be located at a separate building and is connected to a dedicated production metering point on the LV distribution grid. The consumers participating in the RES community can consume electricity through two or more consumption metering points that are connected to the LV distribution grid of the same LV transformer station as the metering point of the RES production unit. It is important that the RES production unit is not (and has never been) taking part in a RES support scheme. As opposed to the EU rules for RECs, no legal entity needs to be formed; only a contract must be signed between the members of the CSC scheme, defining how the RES production is divided internally.
In 2021, a draft electricity supply law was presented defining active consumers and CECs. The law is foreseen to be adopted by end of 2021 at the latest and to come into force in April 2022.