To understand the roots of Enercoop, one must go back to 1925. What began as a charitable electric cooperative in Crevillent, a small town in Alicante, was formed to meet the local textile industry’s needs. Over nearly a century, it has evolved into a company focused on renewable energy and self-consumption, becoming a benchmark for community energy initiatives. Today it leads more than 40 projects across Spain and records a turnover of 47 million euros, signaling continued growth and a decisive contribution to the broader energy transition.
Cooperativa Eléctrica Benéfica San Francisco de Asís. That is the name of Enercoop’s founding company. In January 1925, Crevillent’s industrialists decided to establish this cooperative rather than a traditional company, a choice that was unusual at the time and that helped lift the entire municipality, benefiting both its economic sectors and the population (Enercoop historical notes).
Joaquín Mas Belso, the group’s chief executive, recalls that the initiative originated with the local industries but chose a cooperative path over a strictly commercial one. That decision allowed residents and businesses alike to gain from the cooperative’s growth and stability (Enercoop archives).
Initial investments and early impact
Early shares cost 25 pesetas, and the cooperative quickly shaped Crevillent’s development. Over the years, carpet making surged, mirroring the cooperative’s expansion. In 1970, the entity was honored as Cooperativa Ejemplar by the head of state, and today it stands as the largest in its model within Spain and one of the most notable across Europe. The chief executive has often stated that the aim is not to compete with the big power companies in the top tiers, but to stay among the leading teams in the second division — a deliberate and steady growth strategy (Enercoop historical notes).
Over nearly ten decades, the cooperative marked several milestones. It began by supplying energy to the textile industry, then expanded the grid to every home and business in Crevillent between 1925 and 1950. In the 1970s and 1980s, it consolidated its independence in a sector hostile to small players. A pivotal moment came in 2008 with the El Realengo solar photovoltaic plant, a 13-megawatt facility that required a 90-million-euro investment. It remains one of Europe’s most representative examples of distributed generation feeding a local network (Enercoop archival record).
In 2004, formal group formation occurred as Enercoop, a brand that, six years later, enabled expansion beyond Crevillent and into electricity retail. Two years earlier, the company commissioned the Crevillent transformer station, securing a reliable supply for the coming decades and turning the area into a national and European reference for a community-focused energy model (Enercoop historical notes).
From the Canary Islands to Galicia
In recent years, Enercoop has sharpened its focus on energizing communities. In 2021, the Production, Energy Transition and Innovation division launched a new services line designed to design, implement, start up, and manage energy communities. This initiative has already supported around 40 projects across Spain, spanning the Valencian Community, the Canary Islands, Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha, and beyond (Enercoop service rollout report).
Today the group brings together 15 companies and 10,000 members. In addition to photovoltaic plants in the Valencian Community, Enercoop operates two mini-hydropower plants in Murcia and Ourense, along with four more of the same type in Portugal. The team numbers about 55 people, and in 2023 the group reported a turnover of 47 million euros. The executive notes that the energy price environment has driven higher revenue in recent years, while the current business scale supports a stronger financial health (Enercoop corporate summary).
These developments illustrate Enercoop’s long-standing commitment to empowering local energy ecosystems. The strategy emphasizes resident involvement, fair access to electricity, and resilient infrastructure that serves both industry and households. The group continues to explore new projects and collaborations that can broaden its impact on regional energy independence and European energy goals (Enercoop annual outlook).