A Renewable Energy Community (REC) is not born only when a statute is signed. It begins much earlier: in the questions of citizens, in the doubts shared around a table, in the conversations that slowly transform energy from an individual concern into a common horizon. In Ponza, this journey has now taken a decisive step forward. At the end of June, after a participatory process developed within the LIFE ISLET project, the island formally established its REC with the signing of the statute in the presence of a notary.
This moment marks more than a legal milestone. It is the visible result of a path made of dialogue, peer learning, and growing trust. On a small island, where energy is deeply connected to everyday life, local economy, environmental protection and future resilience, creating a REC means much more than designing an energy project. It means opening a new space for cooperation. The process began in March 2026 with the first public meeting attended by around 30 citizens. The meeting offered the local community an opportunity to better understand what RECs are, how they work, and what benefits they can generate in an island context. Citizens were able to ask practical questions, express doubts and explore the potential of shared renewable energy not as an abstract European policy tool, but as something close to their own lives and to the future of Ponza.
Learning from other islands
A second meeting took place in April 2026, bringing together a smaller group of around ten citizens for an especially meaningful exchange. One of the most valuable moments was a peer-to-peer dialogue between the Mayor of Ponza and representatives from Procida, one of LIFE ISLET’s pilot islands. Through this island-to-island conversation, Ponza was able to learn from a concrete experience already developed in a similar territorial context. Procida did not offer a model to be copied mechanically. It offered something more useful: a living example of how an island can move from initial uncertainty to collective action. The exchange helped make the idea of a REC more tangible, showing that the path may be complex, but also possible when institutions, citizens, and local actors work together.
From individual benefits to collective value
Across both meetings, the process helped clarify doubts and gradually overcome scepticism. Participants discussed what a REC can realistically do, who can be involved, how benefits can be shared, and what kind of commitment is needed to move from interest to implementation.
Perhaps the most important shift was cultural. The conversation slowly moved beyond the individual question “what do I gain from this?” towards a broader and more collective reflection: what can the island gain? What can Ponza build if energy becomes something to produce, share and govern together?
This change of perspective is at the heart of community energy. A REC is not only a legal structure or a technical mechanism. It is a way to imagine energy as a shared resource, capable of generating environmental, social and economic value for the territory. It asks a community to look at renewable energy not simply as an infrastructure, but as a tool for participation, resilience and local empowerment.
Turning dialogue into action
The signing of the statute gives form to this shared vision. It transforms conversations into commitment and turns a collective intuition into a legal framework. For Ponza, the REC is now becoming a concrete instrument through which citizens, local authorities and community actors can continue working together on the island’s energy future.
Through ISLET, Ponza’s experience shows that the energy transition on small islands does not begin only with technologies, incentives or administrative procedures. It begins with people gathering, asking questions, overcoming doubts and recognising that energy can also become a common language.
From Procida to Ponza, from peer learning to local commitment, ISLET continues to demonstrate how Europe’s small islands can become living laboratories of energy democracy. In Ponza, what began as a conversation has now become a shared step towards a more resilient, participatory and renewable future.
What it takes to develop a REC on an island?
