Local electricity cooperatives take off across Switzerland

Around 1,800 local electricity communities are already operating across Switzerland, according to an initial estimate from the solar industry association Swissolar. The figure arrives only six months after the model began at the start of 2026, giving municipalities, rooftop solar owners and electricity customers a new way to organise local power supplies.

The communities bring together electricity producers, consumers and, where available, storage operators. Members can sell surplus renewable electricity directly to nearby customers or buy power generated within their municipality. The arrangement builds on Switzerland’s rapid expansion of rooftop solar and gives small producers a local market for electricity that might otherwise flow into the wider grid.

Swissolar based its estimate on a survey of the 30 largest distribution network operators and information from a platform for local electricity communities. The survey recorded 1,323 communities. Because the operators cover roughly 71% of the Swiss population, Swissolar projected the result nationwide.

The estimate does not mean every municipality has embraced the model at the same pace. Swissolar said some regions have many active projects, while others have none. Demand, administrative procedures, information technology systems and the services offered by grid operators all influence whether a community gets off the ground.

A local electricity community turns a municipality into a small energy marketplace. A homeowner with rooftop panels can offer excess production to neighbours. A household without solar panels can buy part of its electricity locally. A battery operator can store power and release it when demand rises.

The model is designed around proximity. Participants generally belong to the same municipality, allowing electricity generated on one street to serve homes, shops or public buildings nearby. This can give solar producers a more direct relationship with customers and help residents participate in the energy transition without installing panels themselves.

The average community remains modest in size, with 7.2 participants or connections. Yet the national picture includes sharply different models. Regional averages range from three to 29 participants, suggesting that some communities are informal neighbourhood groups while others bring together larger clusters of buildings and users.

The mix of members also shows where the system’s momentum comes from. About 22% of participants generate renewable electricity. Among all members, 13% are prosumers, producing and consuming power, while 9% are pure producers. The largest group, 78%, consists of consumers who join without generating electricity themselves. That balance gives the communities a broad customer base for locally produced solar power.

The national average conceals a sharp regional divide. Swissolar reported that some parts of Switzerland have already developed multiple local electricity communities, while other areas have yet to establish one. The association linked the uneven rollout to differences in demand, local administration and the practical support available from distribution network operators.

Every community depends on systems that handle registrations, billing, metering and the allocation of locally generated electricity. Grid operators may offer different digital platforms or customer services, creating varied levels of complexity for residents and municipalities. A motivated group of solar owners can move quickly in one area, while a similar project elsewhere may face longer preparation or limited technical support.

Municipal boundaries also shape the model. Electricity supply within a community is generally organised locally, which can restrict participation when solar production and demand sit on opposite sides of a boundary. A larger, neighbouring community could sometimes match producers and consumers more efficiently, but current rules do not fully enable that arrangement.

Swissolar wants the legal framework used to its full extent. Its proposals include applying available discounts on grid usage, removing unnecessary charges and allowing electricity supply across municipal boundaries. Those changes would affect the cost, scale and attractiveness of communities as they move beyond the first wave of projects.

Consumers make up 78% of local electricity community members, giving the model a constituency far larger than the pool of rooftop solar owners. Their participation matters because local generation needs nearby buyers, especially during periods when panels produce more electricity than their owners can use.

The figures also show that Switzerland’s community energy system is still primarily a consumer market supported by a smaller group of producers. Prosumers account for 13% of participants and combine generation with household consumption. Pure producers account for another 9%. Together, these groups supply the renewable electricity that communities can circulate locally.

Storage operators can join as a third category, although the source does not provide a national figure for their share. Batteries can help shift solar electricity from the middle of the day toward evening demand. Their role may become more important as communities grow, but the current estimate focuses on membership and connections rather than the volume of electricity traded.

The early data cannot yet show how much power each community supplies, how much money members save or how often local electricity replaces purchases from the wider grid. Those measures will be important for judging the model’s effect on household bills, solar investment and grid management. For now, the membership figures document rapid uptake and a clear demand for shared access to renewable power.

Swissolar says the first six months show strong momentum, while the framework still needs work. The association is asking policymakers and grid operators to make local electricity communities easier and cheaper to run. Its priorities include using the full legal scope for reductions in grid fees, avoiding charges it considers unnecessary and permitting supply across municipal borders.

Those details will shape the next phase. A community with seven participants faces different administrative demands from one with 29. A project that crosses a municipal boundary could also have more options for matching solar production with demand. Lower network costs could improve the value proposition for both producers and consumers, although the source does not quantify potential savings.

The national estimate remains an extrapolation rather than a complete registry. Swissolar surveyed the largest operators, which cover about 71% of the population, and projected the result to the rest of the country. The estimate therefore offers an early measure of expansion, not a final count of active projects or their electricity output.

For Swiss municipalities, the immediate task is practical: identify local producers, recruit consumers, coordinate with the distribution network operator and select workable billing and data systems. If those processes become more consistent, the current patchwork of projects could develop into a more connected layer of Switzerland’s renewable energy system.