The village of S. Luís village in Odemira already had a very active citizen movement promoting sustainability. Manuel Campos, president of the village’s Parish Council and an active participant in the project told us that between 2011 and 2020 the group managed to obtain an accumulated funding of 525k€ for PV systems through various Odemira’s municipality participatory budgets. One of the successful applications in 2020 was a project to create a Renewable Energy Community in the region. The process of co-creation to set up this company has been supported by the H2020 European project PROSEU. The idea is to install 120 kWp in municipal buildings and schools, day centres, homes and communities. Based on the savings achieved they aim to invest in more panels until they fully satisfy the energy needs of the municipality’s public buildings — an objective that is expected to be achieved this year (2022). The Living Lab in São Luis has been initiated as a result of the joint work of PROSEU’s FC.ID team, the Coopérnico energy cooperative and the S. Luís Transition Town initiative (an informal community that is leading the project of transforming S. Luís into a renewable energy community). São Luís has been working since 2011 towards achieving a higher level of energy autonomy by 2030, yet different pathways are possible. Together with a multi-stakeholder group, the community is co-creating a model (considering technological, economic, social and environmental factors) for setting up an energy community.

• Community-based initiative (i.e. citizens, cooperative, neighbourhood group)
• Non-profit organisation (i.e. pursues a particular social cause, e.g. schools, foundations, social movement)
• Local government

• Not specified