From solar roofs to smart energy communities: exploring flexibility potential in a Swiss housing cooperative

Extended abstract 5-050-26

Housing cooperatives represent a unique institutional model for accelerating the energy transition through collective action and democratic governance. Their organizational structure combining collective ownership, resident participation, and long-term planning makes them logical starting points for local energy communities. In German-speaking Switzerland, 10–20% of urban populations live in such cooperatives. We investigate how they can optimize energy use and unlock flexibility potentials within emerging regulatory frameworks for local energy communities in Switzerland. Previous surveys with cooperative residents reveal a strong interest in self-consumption of rooftop solar power and a willingness to shift dishwasher and washing machine use to capture this local power.

We employ a mixed-methods approach combining technical-economic modeling with with social science analysis on behavioural flexibility. We model peer-to-peer electricity sharing scenarios to quantify economic benefits while surveys with redidents identify demand-side flexibility opportunities. A key part of this project is a real-world flexibility intervention, beginning with a pilot at NEST, a modular research building in Eastern Switzerland where new technologies are tested under real conditions. Working with two NEST residences housing guest researchers provides an ideal environment to prototype our intervention before scaling to a larger housing cooperative. Following a co-design workshop (April 2026), we implement a 10-day flexibility challenge in summer 2026. Participants experience manually-controlled flexibility, receiving text messages with specific guidance such as «tomorrow it's sunny, so start your washing machine during lunch time» to actively shift appliance use and maximize solar self-consumption. This hands-on experience serves a dual purpose: quantifying actual flexibility potential under realistic conditions while potentially influencing participants' attitudes toward both manual flexibility practices and automated control systems. We hypothesize that experiencing manual flexibility's effort may increase willingness to adopt automation technologies that maintain flexibility with reduced user burden.

Following the NEST pilot, we scale the intervention to housing cooperatives, where collective governance structures offer unique advantages for implementing shared energy strategies while reducing transaction costs. However, critical questions remain around incentive alignment, decision-making processes, cost/benefit distribution, and equitable tenant participation – factors essential for assessing the scaling potential of cooperative-based energy communities.

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