Comunidade Enerxética Portabozua

20 members. Established in 2023

Community meetings and stakeholder visits during Portabouza's co-creation process, bringing neighbours together to shape the project collectively. - © © Comunidade Enerxética Portabouza.

A business plan to…

A business plan to consolidate Portabouza as a rural energy community that returns control of local energy to the people of Cabeiras (Arbo), reviving the collective management tradition of the parish's historic water mills. Building on a co-created citizenship process, the community jointly financed and built a 48.8 kWp collective self-consumption solar installation, governed democratically (one person, one vote), with no profit motive: fees simply recover real costs. Aware of the risks an ageing, voluntary-run rural association faces, the vision is to secure full operation of this first phase, strengthen inclusion of vulnerable and ageing members, and, longer term, evolve towards battery storage and smarter energy management, becoming a lasting model of energy citizenship.

Impact in the community

Portabouza is a highly innovative proposal that restores local, democratic control over energy in a rural parish facing demographic decline, reviving a historic tradition of community-managed resources. It builds cohesion around a shared, non-profit project where every member has an equal voice, regardless of investment. Vulnerable and elderly households are included on equal terms, easing energy poverty, while modelling a transparent, accountable form of grassroots governance others can learn from.