Branches

A branch is a community grouping inside Surpl.

Each branch can:

• bring members together around a common energy project or community identity;
• show anonymised or aggregated branch metrics;
• support branch-level participation, reporting, and updates;
• help members understand the local value of their shared energy activity.

Branches are designed to be visible enough to build trust and momentum, but not so detailed that they expose individual household behaviour.

Members can join a branch if they are invited, eligible, or part of the relevant community structure.

Branch administrators can manage updates, membership settings, and public-facing information where that role is enabled.

Public branch information is intentionally limited to aggregated data. Surpl does not publish household-level energy profiles, personal meter data, or any detail that could reasonably identify a member from branch reporting.

Where available and appropriate, we may display live or regularly updated anonymised branch metrics such as:

• number of members;
• number of solar-producing households;
• total solar energy produced all time;
• total solar energy produced this year;
• total solar energy produced this month;
• estimated carbon saved;
• branch participation growth;
• estimated future GO value, where relevant and clearly marked as estimated only.

These figures are designed to help the public understand the scale and progress of a branch without exposing individual households.

We may show a public map or list of branches so people can explore how the Surpl network is growing.

The map may include:

• branch name;
• approximate location or region;
• member count;
• solar household count;
• aggregated generation totals;
• aggregated carbon savings;
• branch status or activity level.

To protect privacy, the map should only show anonymised and aggregated data. If a branch is too small to safely display, it should be grouped, masked, or hidden.

Branch pages are intended to show community progress, not household details.

Surpl may use aggregated data because it helps people understand the impact of local energy while protecting privacy and reducing re-identification risk. This is consistent with the way non-personal smart meter data is published in Ireland: it must be aggregated or combined so it can no longer identify an individual customer.

A branch can show how much solar energy its members have produced over time.

That helps answer practical questions such as:

• How much energy is this community generating?
• How much clean energy has been produced this month or year?
• How much carbon has been avoided as a result?

If GO-related features are enabled in the future, branches may also show estimated renewable value based on pooled generation. Any such value should be clearly marked as estimated until the relevant Irish regulatory framework and operating model are fully in place.

A Guarantee of Origin is an electronic certificate that proves a quantity of electricity came from renewable generation, and each GO represents 1 MWh of electricity produced.

GO certificates are separate from Clean Export Guarantee payments and are part of a different value chain. In principle, local pooling can make the renewable story more visible and potentially more commercially useful than a single small household export on its own, because multiple smaller generators can be combined into a more meaningful local volume.

At present, GO-related branch value should be treated as future-facing unless and until the Irish regulatory framework, partner arrangements, and operational model are in place. Until then, any GO value shown on Surpl must be clearly labelled as estimated and not counted as settled member value.

Pooling works better than relying on a single household because many renewable systems are small.

A single home may generate useful renewable energy, but it may not produce enough over a short period to create a meaningful certificate stream on its own. By pooling multiple households and community generators, branches can create a more visible and potentially more marketable renewable record over time.

This is one reason branch-based energy communities are important: they help local generation add up to something larger than any one roof or one meter can show.

If Surpl shows an estimated GO value range, that figure is only a planning estimate.

It does not mean:

• the branch has a live certificate market;
• the value is guaranteed;
• the branch can currently cash out that amount;
• Irish regulators have enabled the final operating model.

The estimated value is there to help members understand the possible future order of magnitude only. Once the relevant GO framework is enabled, the page should switch from an estimated future value view to a live value view starting from zero and reflecting actual rules and settlement.

The time it takes a branch to generate meaningful GO volume depends on:

• the size of its solar systems;
• the number of participating households;
• the season;
• the weather;
• roof orientation and site performance;
• whether all generation is actually measured and eligible.

A small branch may need months to accumulate enough generation to make GO pooling meaningful. Larger branches can move faster. The page should explain this as a range rather than a promise.

Branch members can use the page to:

• understand how their local group is performing;
• see how their branch compares over time;
• follow aggregated growth and generation;
• support community engagement and local recruiting;
• prepare for future renewable-value features when allowed.