Instead of substituting, a CSOP complements an RE-cooperative. The “one member one vote” principle of a cooperative tends to be an obstacle for a partnership with small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and commercial investors, since these stakeholders generally prefer voting rights proportional to their shareholding. Furthermore, the necessity of a representation on management and supervisory bodies has been reported an obstacle to municipal investments. This is due to the fact that cooperative law does not acknowledge a right of delegation familiar to legislation on joint stock companies.

For this reason, cooperative projects often set up special purpose vehicles. A CSOP involves such a special purpose vehicle by standard. However it endows this vehicle with a defined governance structure, allowing for the direct involvement of municipalities and strategic partners while safeguarding the interests of local partners.