Recently, two photovoltaic projects called "Caldes de Malavella" and "Sol de la Selva" have been opened for participatory financing. These projects are promoted by the ASPIRAVI group and designed by Km0 Energy. They are just examples of Catalan solar and wind farm projects open to citizen investment, managed by entities such as Ecrowd.

This crowdlending platform, licensed by the CNMV, offers participatory financing services and channels the obligation of renewable energy developers to offer local investors 20% of the share capital or project financing for projects between 5 MW and 50 MW. "In the case of these two parks, for example, individuals and businesses from the Selva and Gironès regions have priority to invest. These are highly interesting opportunities to invest locally in renewable energy and the decarbonisation of the energy system," said Jordi Solé Muntada, CEO of Ecrowd.

One of the main challenges these platforms face is providing citizens with access to information about existing investment opportunities in such projects. "More mechanisms are needed to extensively inform citizens in each region about the various possibilities they now have to invest in local solar and wind farms, following the Catalan regulation on local participation offers," said Solé, who also pointed out "the lack of incentives" both for developer companies to gain benefits from mobilising local investments and for citizens to obtain tax deductions or better energy tariffs.

According to Ecrowd's CEO, citizen participation through investment is one of the ways to empower the population to take an active role in the energy transition and the fight against climate change. In this sense, he believes such investments can help reduce local resistance to project implementation, an issue affecting many renewable energy promoters in Catalonia. "Without a doubt, it can help, even more so when accompanied by participation mechanisms such as local energy communities and other formulas to turn these projects into economic opportunities for the areas where they are developed."

In France and Belgium, highly successful local investment mechanisms in energy generation projects have been in place for some time, Solé noted. "These mechanisms are based on incentives to reward local participation, both for developers and investors," he stated.

In addition to facilitating local participation offers, the Ecrowd platform also processes citizen financing for installations and sustainability-related activities carried out by businesses and communities. Solé highlighted recent cases of "photovoltaic roofs for businesses and residential communities, shared self-consumption systems, and energy communities," as well as "loans to companies to advance subsidies granted by public administrations." The Ecrowd CEO also emphasised the success of participatory financing initiatives in schools, funded "through investments from members of their own educational community."