FAQs

Energy communities organise collective and citizen-driven energy actions that help to pave the way for a clean energy transition, while moving citizens to the fore (such as energy sharing). They contribute to increase public acceptance of renewable energy projects and they make it easier to attract private investments in the clean energy transition. At the same time, energy communities have the potential to provide direct benefits to citizens by advancing energy efficiency and lowering their electricity bills. Energy communities offer a means to re-structure the energy systems by harnessing energy and allowing citizens to participate actively in the energy transition and thereby enjoy greater benefits. (Source: https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/markets-and-consumers/energy-communities_en)

Energy communities can take any form of legal entity (see: Legal form of the energy community), for instance that of an association, a cooperative, a partnership, a non- profit organisation or a small/medium-sized enterprise. The concept of energy communities makes it easier for its citizens, together with other market players, to team up and jointly invest in energy assets. This in turn, helps contribute to a more decarbonised and flexible energy system, as the energy communities can act as one entity and access all suitable energy markets, on a level-playing field with other market actors. (Source: https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/markets-and-consumers/energy-communities_en)

An energy cooperative (see: Cooperatives) is a special legal form of an energy community in some countries like Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Italy. In these countries, there exist dedicated laws on cooperatives in general which can be applied to the energy sector. An energy cooperative is an enterprise which is jointly owned usually by a larger number of citizens. It is usually democratically owned by its members, whereas each member has one vote in electing the board of directors. Typical projects (see: Project concepts) of energy cooperatives are the installation of photovoltaic systems, e.g., on public buildings or as ground-mounted systems, the implementation of wind energy projects or the set-up of smaller district heating networks. In several other European countries, laws on cooperatives are non-existent. In these cases, other legal forms of energy communities may be set up.

In theory, any citizen can get active and start the creation of an energy community (see: Types of members). Usually this starts with a concrete idea for a renewable energy or energy efficiency project in the community. To get active, a critical mass of supporters is needed in order to get the project started. The involvement of the mayor and the municipality/city council is advised, but not always necessary. First steps in the set-up of energy communities is the definition of concrete projects, the mobilisation of other citizens through e.g. a series or information events, the definition of a business model and the set-up of a legal entity.

Ideally, the mayor and the municipality/city council members (see: Politicians) are supporters of setting-up energy communities. They can either be themselves active part of the movement, or support the process with favourable council decisions, such as for example deciding on no or low fees for renting public roofs to the energy community to install a photovoltaic system. However, there exist also energy communities which are independent and in which local politics do not have any role.

Many energy communities have photovoltaic installations as important projects in their portfolio, as well as windmills and district heating networks. Some communities have also joint activities in the mobility sector, such as e.g. car sharing options with electric cars. You can find out more about how to start a project under define your project and about potential projects under project concepts.

A new development in financing renewable energy projects is crowdfunding (See: Equity crowdfunding). Several crowdfunding platforms focussed on energy co-ops have become established in recent years, such as crowdEner.gy, Green Crowding, Bettervest, and Econeers. (Source: https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/citizens-participation-energiewende)

Aggregators are players who trade and supply energy without managing their own balancing groups. Their business model consists primarily of pooling and marketing generation plants, flexible consumers and storage systems. You use it to scale small investments to a tradable volume.

Prosumers (producers and consumers) combine the roles of producers and consumers. The development of technologies such as photovoltaics has made it easier for consumers to produce electrical energy themselves. In addition to large conventional power plants, smaller, decentralized production units are becoming more important.

The potential participants in a renewable energy community and a community energy community can be manifold. An overview and detailed descriptions of types of members of an energy community are presented here.

Participants in renewable energy communities (REC) may be: natural persons, communities, legal entities of authorities with regard to local offices and other legal entities under public law or small and medium-sized enterprises. Energy supply companies are not allowed to participate.

Participants in citizen energy communities (CEC) can be natural or legal persons and local authorities.

A guideline on how to get started can be found here.

This is a difficult question, as the framework conditions differ from case to case. It depends very much on how many supporters you have; how big your project is and how many barriers apply. You will probably need time to move things forward, but ideally the success will bring various benefits of financial and social nature.

Usually, the motivation to make a change in the energy system is the driver for people who get active in the launch of energy communities. Thus, the efforts by the people who set up an energy cooperative is on a voluntary and non-paid basis. However, with increasing size of the energy community in terms of project investments and number of members, it may be required to employ staff to manage the energy community.

Local politicians can be mayors as well as members of city/municipality councils or county councils. An energy community does not necessarily need local politicians to be involved, however, very often it is of great advantage. If politicians support energy cooperatives, this can have a positive impact on e.g. permitting procedures, strategic plans, advertising, etc. On the other hand, the existence of an energy community may create a positive image on the municipality/city as well as on the profile of elected politicians.