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

Emerging Business Models for Energy Communities – Lessons from the PEGASUS project – WEBINAR

This PEGASUS webinar will present the details of the “energy communities” provisions Clean Energy Package, bring forward the perspective of a funding body supporting such projects and showcase microgrid economic scenarios

Deadline extended to apply for ePLANET's beneficial opportunities for regions!

You want to accelerate the energy transition in your region? Now is your opportunity to join the obliging ePLANET team as regional partner. Application is opened until 30th of June!

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.

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 >

Sustainable Communities Wales

Sustainable Communities Wales

Read about the role of Severn Wye in providing free resource efficiency advice and specialist support to community organisations across Wales, from 2018 to 2021.

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Irelands First Community-Owned EV Charging Point

Irelands First Community-Owned EV Charging Point

Read about the first solar-powered charging station in Callan, Ireland, implemented by the Callan Community Energy and supported by 3CEA.

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Local citizen-owned energy communities in France

Local citizen-owned energy communities in France

"Centrales Villageoises" are local companies whose shareholders are mainly citizens, local municipalities and local companies.

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Empowering energy communities in the southeast of Ireland

Empowering energy communities in the southeast of Ireland

Ireland's South East Energy Agency is delighted to support 60 sustainable energy communities in the four counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, and Waterford. See how the agency is helping Irish communities to begin taking the energy transition into their own hands.

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