Takeaways of “In support of Energy Communities for climate neutral cities” webinar

Here are some takeaways from the webinar organized by the Covenant of Mayors – Europe Office, which took place on July 13^th 2022.

The webinar presented technical assistance opportunities for energy communities from three different initiatives. Also, two different good practices were presented on how energy communities can help improve the quality of life and support the cities in their path towards climate neutrality.

Firstly, Mariangela Luceri from the Covenant of Mayors – Europe Office presented the technical assistance programme 2022-2023, open for all Covenant of Mayors – Europe signatories at any stage in their mitigation and adaptation journey, with the objectives of having a better understanding of all the socio-economic benefits that come with a more citizen-oriented energy strategy, and a better knowledge of and access to replicable case studies and other useful resources to better implement their energy democracy policies and strategy, amongst others. The programme consists on the participation in three online workshops to develop a cooperation plan between the city and the civil society organisations between September 2022 and January/February 2023.

The session then focused on the two new technical assistance programmes launched by the European Commission for the support of Energy Communities. On one hand, a presentation from Elodie Bossio, from FEDARENE and representing the Energy Communities Repository, about how the initiative is developing a comprehensive capacity building and a strategy to provide support to at least 150 communities, specifically focused on urban communities. The programme offers support in five different areas: technical, financial, promotion and community development, governance and legal. The application process is now open, find further information here.

On the other hand, Eugenia Bonifazi, from Ricardo representing the  The Rural Community Advisory Hub. This initiative aims to accelerate the development of sustainable energy community projects in European rural areas. Their technical assistance programme will be launched early September for the Energy Communities per definition of the European Union, that are located in rural areas. This pilot phase will start working with three to four communities as an opportunity to test the application material.

In the second part of the webinar two different good practices on Energy Communities were presented. First of all, Søren Hermansen from the Samsoe Energy Academy talked about the mobilization of local communities for the long-term vision, and its full integration with the citizens to build a sustainable community that involves everyone, making Samso (Denmark) a complete climate neutral island.

Finally, Ivana Mlinarić, from the City of Križevci (Croatia) gave a presentation on how to integrate the energy community into the city planning, presenting the different projects the city has developed, from energy renovations of public buildings to charging stations for electric vehicles, with a special focus on the Križevci Laboratoy of Innovation for Climate and Energy, and their future plans for the establishment of sustainable public transport, and many more.

Watch the recording of the webinar here!