Occitanie Regional Energy and Climate Agency

Set up in 2018, driven by the President of the Occitanie Region, Carole Delga, the Occitanie Regional Energy and Climate Agency (AREC) produces energy-transition solutions to facilitate the large-scale roll-out of projects across the region.

One of the region's key tools, AREC is playing an instrumental role in supporting Occitanie's goal of becoming the first "Positive Energy Region" (REPOS) by 2050. AREC's activities are structured around four main tasks: supporting public and private players, investing in the energy transition to tackle the climate challenges, accelerating the drive to make energy savings, and strengthening the resilience of Occitanie.

To achieve these objectives, it was set up as a hybrid organisation, unique in France, based on a structure made up of a public local company (SPL) and a public-private partnership (SEM). A neutral entity, the agency is a trusted third party that serves the general interest and seeks to ensure that value is shared fairly. Through its expertise and its engineering and investment capacities, AREC supports the various players across the region and project initiators, from the early stages to the realisation and financing of projects.

AREC's activities include:

• Supporting local entities through multi-stakeholder and cross-thematic solutions (buildings, sustainable mobility, renewable energy, tools and data, general-interest financing and investment, organisation and networking). For example, AREC has developed a platform to link up roof owners with local citizens' cooperatives for the purposes of solar-panel installations. It has also set up an investment tool to co-invest, alongside citizens and local authorities, in the development of citizen-driven and local-governance based renewable energy projects.
• Investing in the energy transition with an integrated service offer: for example, AREC is contributing, alongside ENGIE, to the installation of electrolysers at Toulouse Blagnac airport to supply hydrogen to Airbus and airport shuttles. AREC also proposes to local authorities a solution for turnkey parking shelters for small carparks (starting at 14 spaces). – initiatives to speed up the drive for energy savings in industry and the services sector: for example, AREC supports SATYS – a French international group based in Blagnac specialising in aircraft sealing and painting and the interior design of aircraft and trains – in implementing operational actions focused on energy efficiency.
• Lleading the Regional Observatory of Energy and Climate in Occitanie (ORCEO), which monitors Occitanie region's path to becoming a "Positive Energy Region" (REPOS). AREC also deploys the TERRISTORY tool, a collaborative tool available to local areas for energy planning.
• Manages and leads the regional public service for the energy renovation of private housing: "Rénov'Occitanie". AREC provides a range of measures to owners in individual properties and co-ownerships to support them when it comes to energy audits, having works carried out and financing those works, through soft loans. AREC is a member of FEDARENE, the European Federation of Agencies and Regions for Energy and the Environment. It is also part of the European "Stepping Plus" project, which aims to foster the widespread use of energy performance contracting (EPC) in the Mediterranean region.