Energy communities, both in terms of energy efficiency and renewable energy production, are considered one of the key elements to support the path towards a decarbonized EU economy.

The European Climate Initiative EUKI project CONGREGATE, launched in 2021, combines two key areas of the energy transition: the renovation of multi-family housing and the creation of energy communities with the active participation of municipalities. In particular, the second axis of the project promotes the creation of public-private renewable energy cooperatives in Bulgaria, Greece and in the Czech Republic. For this purpose, within the framework of the project, three technical-economic and feasibility studies are planned in each country.

In this context, an informative online seminar on "The Energy Transition: the role of local energy communities and local energy ownership models" will be held on 2 February 2022 from 11:00 to 13:00.

Municipalities from Belgium, Spain and Portugal that have experience with the creation of energy communities in collaboration with private civil society organizations are invited to participate. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about their experiences, as well as get answers to the following questions: 

What are the driving forces behind the creation of renewable energy communities?

What key actions and recommendations should be proposed to foster collaboration between public and private organizations? 

What are successful business models to accelerate the creation of RE communities?

What is needed in terms of capacity development at the local level?

Partners in CONGREGATE are INZEB (Greece), SEVEn (Czech Republic), ProNZEB (Romania), the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Zagreb (Croatia), and from Bulgaria the Energy Efficiency Centre EnEffect and the CSD.

The working language of the seminar will be English.

Published papers on the topic: 

Joint report for Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Greece - "Solutions for Energy Cooperatives".

Models for Renewable Energy Cooperatives with Public-Private Partnerships involving Municipalities