Energy communities

Energy communities

Energy communities are initiatives led by citizens, allowing them to take control of their energy production and consumption. They help decentralize the energy systems where the grid is owned by local people with solar and wind farms set up in fields or solar panels installed on rooftops. That way, local people consume the clean and renewable energy they produce at home, and every household becomes a player in the energy sector. Citizens take an active role in the decision-making process and share the economy within the local community, as these projects stimulate local employment.

The community energy concept also offers a solution for energy poverty, one of the greatest problems we have in the world today. In 2018, about 34 million Europeans were unable to keep their homes adequately warm. According to an EU-wide survey in 2019, 6.9% of the EU population was unable to afford to heat their home sufficiently. Especially in local areas, energy poverty is a major problem that can be fixed with the flexibility energy communities offer to the electricity system through demand-response and storage, while improving their energy efficiency and reducing their energy bills.  

In May 2019, the EU has introduced the concept of energy communities in its legislation through the Clean Energy for All Europeans package as “citizen energy communities” and “renewable energy communities”. Particularly the revised Renewable Energy Directive II (REDII) and the Internal Electricity Market Directive (IEMD) contain provisions that create a supportive EU legal framework for community ownership. With these provisions, the EU legislation acknowledged for the first time the role of community energy ownership to meet its climate and energy objectives and signalled a strong shift in the role of citizens from passive consumers to active participants in the energy transition.

Objectives

  • Facilitating the development of energy communities in Europe and share best practice examples;
  • Empowering citizens in the energy transition, turning them into active prosumers;
  • Using the expertise of FEDARENE members to inform the national and European policy framework regulating energy communities;
  • Relieving energy poverty and increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources through energy communities.

Our latest news on Energy communities

ConnectHeat project launches to unlock the potential of Energy Communities

The ConnectHeat project will build and improve public authorities' capacity to determine and establish local energy communities, with a view towards boosting the energy transition in the heating and cooling sector.

LIFE-BECKON: Boosting Energy Communities Massive Deployment

LIFE-BECKON will equip local authorities with comprehensive technical assistance, integrated services and capacity-building on energy communities.

International platform for the support of energy communities available online

EU project SHAREs, a Horizon 2020-funded initiative aimed at supporting energy communities and promoting citizen engagement in the energy transition, has released a new information platform.

ePLANET Meeting in Paris outlines the pathway towards regional implementation

After the first half of the project duration, the recap of the achievements especially on Multi-level governance and the different Use-cases of the ePLANET platform helped to plan and design the further regional integration of the results and replication in the ePLANET follower regions.

POWER-E-COM: Empowering European Communities for Sustainable Energy Initiatives 

The POWER-E-COM Project aims to foster the cooperation between regional/local authorities and citizens so that community energy projects can come to fruition in six European countries. It empowers stakeholders and aims to attract €21.4 million in investment, achieve 9.2 GWh of annual primary energy savings, produce 37.3 GWh of renewable energy yearly, and reduce emissions by 30,700 tons annually.

Energy communities are here to stay!

Check out this Editorial by Christiane Egger, FEDARENE Vice-President for Climate Neutrality and Deputy Manager of OÖ Energiesparverband, extracted from our publication ‘Sustainable Regions in Action‘.

Energy Communities Facility

The EU Energy Communities Facility (ENERCOM Facility) has been designed to provide direct support to energy communities

ISLET

Innovative Supporting schemes for community-Led Energy Transition in the small islands of the Mediterranean

ConnectHeat

The ConnectHeat project will develop an enabling policy framework for the development of community energy initiatives, aiming at decarbonising the heating and cooling (H&C) sector in 7 target areas located within a wide geographical spread.

Energy communities repository

The Energy communities repository will become the European advisory and information hub monitoring energy communities across Member States in the EU.

Best practices >

Citizen and cooperative renewable energies in Occitanie

Citizen and cooperative renewable energies in Occitanie

In 2014, the Occitanie Region adopted an ambitious strategy for the development of Citizen and Cooperative Renewable Energy (EnRCC), aiming to reach 500 projects and 100,000 citizen shareholders by 2030.

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International platform for the support of energy communities

International platform for the support of energy communities

Renewable energy communities play a crucial role in enabling citizens to actively contribute to and advocate for the ongoing energy transition. Discover more about this best practice in Germany!

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Testing energy sharing models in Extremadura

Testing energy sharing models in Extremadura

During 2023, Extremadura’s Energy Agency (AGENEX) successfully completed the implementation of INNOINVEST, a project including a pilot initiative of shared renewable self-consumption between public buildings in the city of Badajoz.

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Local energy community transformation office

Local energy community transformation office

Rivas Vaciamadrid, a municipality situated near Madrid with approximately 100,000 residents, has embraced a strategy for energy management aligned with the principles of the European Green Deal.

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