A CSOP can be launched by consumers themselves or set up for consumers by another entity like the municipality they live in. An external investor (SME, commercial investor, plant operators, etc.) can then back up the initiative.
Participation in a CSOP is advantageous for commercial investors, since voting rights are proportional to shareholding as opposed to other citizen energy models including minority stakes of commercial investors, like the one member/one vote system of cooperatives.
Additionally consumers’ shareholding is pooled in an intermediate entity, managed and represented in the CSOP-LLC by an expert (the trustee).