IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i24p8226-d696957.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Designing Collaborative Energy Communities: A European Overview

Author

Listed:
  • Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger

    (Department of Architecture, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy)

  • Martina Massari

    (Department of Architecture, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy)

  • Danila Longo

    (Department of Architecture, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy)

  • Beatrice Turillazzi

    (Department of Architecture, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy)

  • Carlo Alberto Nucci

    (Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

Renewable energy has a crucial role in facing climate change. One promising strategy is the creation of energy communities that require active involvement from a bottom-up perspective. Their implementation is difficult, as they currently rely on local policies, community readiness, and technological availability. The objective of this paper is to provide a qualitative overview of energy community concepts and strategies at the European level. The aim is to identify common approaches that are framing the development of energy communities, and to understand the most successful steps leading to their creation and growth. To achieve this objective, a threefold methodology is provided: (1) an updated review on policies dealing with energy communities at the European and Italian level; (2) a qualitative overview of European-funded projects under the Horizon 2020 work program; and (3) a qualitative overview of some of the most successful existing energy communities in Europe. The results outline a series of considerations and lessons learned that are useful for implementing this transition pathway in a real case, which is also presented in the paper. The conclusions will identify some future directions of this research, particularly in relation to the results coming from the implementation of actions in the real case.

Suggested Citation

  • Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger & Martina Massari & Danila Longo & Beatrice Turillazzi & Carlo Alberto Nucci, 2021. "Designing Collaborative Energy Communities: A European Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:24:p:8226-:d:696957
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8226/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8226/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ibrahim Abada, Andreas Ehrenmann, and Xavier Lambin, 2020. "On the Viability of Energy Communities," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    2. Abada, I. & Ehrenmann, A. & Lambin, X., 2017. "On the viability of energy communities," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1740, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    3. Dick Magnusson & Jenny Palm, 2019. "Come Together—The Development of Swedish Energy Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, February.
    4. Genus, A. & Iskandarova, M., 2020. "Transforming the energy system? Technology and organisational legitimacy and the institutionalisation of community renewable energy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Romero-Rubio, Carmen & de Andrés Díaz, José Ramón, 2015. "Sustainable energy communities: a study contrasting Spain and Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 397-409.
    6. Karunathilake, Hirushie & Hewage, Kasun & Mérida, Walter & Sadiq, Rehan, 2019. "Renewable energy selection for net-zero energy communities: Life cycle based decision making under uncertainty," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 558-573.
    7. Azarova, Valeriya & Cohen, Jed & Friedl, Christina & Reichl, Johannes, 2019. "Designing local renewable energy communities to increase social acceptance: Evidence from a choice experiment in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1176-1183.
    8. Danila Longo & Giulia Olivieri & Rossella Roversi & Giulia Turci & Beatrice Turillazzi, 2020. "Energy Poverty and Protection of Vulnerable Consumers. Overview of the EU Funding Programs FP7 and H2020 and Future Trends in Horizon Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-17, February.
    9. Heldeweg, Michiel A. & Séverine Saintier,, 2020. "Renewable energy communities as ‘socio-legal institutions’: A normative frame for energy decentralization?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    10. Pons-Seres de Brauwer, C. & Cohen, J.J., 2020. "Analysing the potential of citizen-financed community renewable energy to drive Europe's low-carbon energy transition," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    11. Fleischhacker, Andreas & Lettner, Georg & Schwabeneder, Daniel & Auer, Hans, 2019. "Portfolio optimization of energy communities to meet reductions in costs and emissions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 1092-1105.
    12. Lowitzsch, J. & Hoicka, C.E. & van Tulder, F.J., 2020. "Renewable energy communities under the 2019 European Clean Energy Package – Governance model for the energy clusters of the future?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paola Marrone & Federico Fiume & Antonino Laudani & Ilaria Montella & Martina Palermo & Francesco Riganti Fulginei, 2023. "Distributed Energy Systems: Constraints and Opportunities in Urban Environments," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-27, March.
    2. Georgios Yiasoumas & Lazar Berbakov & Valentina Janev & Alessandro Asmundo & Eneko Olabarrieta & Andrea Vinci & Giovanni Baglietto & George E. Georghiou, 2023. "Key Aspects and Challenges in the Implementation of Energy Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-24, June.
    3. Anita De Franco & Elisabetta Venco & Roberto De Lotto & Caterina Pietra & Florian Kutzner & Mona Bielig & Melanie Vogel, 2023. "Drivers, Motivations, and Barriers in the Creation of Energy Communities: Insights from the City of Segrate, Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1, August.
    4. Ahmed Abouaiana & Alessandra Battisti, 2022. "Multifunction Land Use to Promote Energy Communities in Mediterranean Region: Cases of Egypt and Italy," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-24, April.
    5. Alyssa Diva Mustika & Rémy Rigo-Mariani & Vincent Debusschere & Amaury Pachurka, 2022. "New Members Selection for the Expansion of Energy Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Alexandre Lucas & Salvador Carvalhosa, 2022. "Renewable Energy Community Pairing Methodology Using Statistical Learning Applied to Georeferenced Energy Profiles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, June.
    7. Myriam Caratù & Valerio Brescia & Ilaria Pigliautile & Paolo Biancone, 2023. "Assessing Energy Communities’ Awareness on Social Media with a Content and Sentiment Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-28, April.
    8. Cristian Tapia & Diana Ulloa & Mayra Pacheco-Cunduri & Jorge Hernández-Ambato & Jesús Rodríguez-Flores & Victor Herrera-Perez, 2022. "Optimal Fuzzy-Based Energy Management Strategy to Maximize Self-Consumption of PV Systems in the Residential Sector in Ecuador," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-28, July.
    9. Sikke R. Jansma & Le Anh Nguyen Long & Dasom Lee, 2023. "Understanding Energy Citizenship: How Cultural Capital Shapes the Energy Transition," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, February.
    10. Daniela Mazza & Daniele Tarchi & Angel A. Juan, 2022. "Advanced Technologies in Smart Cities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-3, June.
    11. Roberto Gerundo & Alessandra Marra, 2022. "A Decision Support Methodology to Foster Renewable Energy Communities in the Municipal Urban Plan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-22, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gjorgievski, Vladimir Z. & Cundeva, Snezana & Georghiou, George E., 2021. "Social arrangements, technical designs and impacts of energy communities: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1138-1156.
    2. Haji Bashi, Mazaher & De Tommasi, Luciano & Le Cam, Andreea & Relaño, Lorena Sánchez & Lyons, Padraig & Mundó, Joana & Pandelieva-Dimova, Ivanka & Schapp, Henrik & Loth-Babut, Karolina & Egger, Christ, 2023. "A review and mapping exercise of energy community regulatory challenges in European member states based on a survey of collective energy actors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    3. Bernadette Fina & Hubert Fechner, 2021. "Transposition of European Guidelines for Energy Communities into Austrian Law: A Comparison and Discussion of Issues and Positive Aspects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, June.
    4. Kemi Adeyeye & John Gallagher & Aonghus McNabola & Helena M. Ramos & Paul Coughlan, 2021. "Socio-Technical Viability Framework for Micro Hydropower in Group Water-Energy Schemes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-21, July.
    5. Fouladvand, Javanshir & Aranguren Rojas, Maria & Hoppe, Thomas & Ghorbani, Amineh, 2022. "Simulating thermal energy community formation: Institutional enablers outplaying technological choice," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    6. Alessandro Burgio & Domenico Cimmino & Andrea Nappo & Luigi Smarrazzo & Giuseppe Donatiello, 2023. "An IoT-Based Solution for Monitoring and Controlling Battery Energy Storage Systems at Residential and Commercial Levels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-21, March.
    7. Volpato, Gabriele & Carraro, Gianluca & Cont, Marco & Danieli, Piero & Rech, Sergio & Lazzaretto, Andrea, 2022. "General guidelines for the optimal economic aggregation of prosumers in energy communities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    8. Martin Hammerschmid & Johannes Konrad & Andreas Werner & Tom Popov & Stefan Müller, 2022. "ENECO 2 Calc—A Modeling Tool for the Investigation of Energy Transition Paths toward Climate Neutrality within Municipalities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-32, September.
    9. Viktor Bukovszki & Ábel Magyari & Marina Kristina Braun & Kitti Párdi & András Reith, 2020. "Energy Modelling as a Trigger for Energy Communities: A Joint Socio-Technical Perspective," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-44, May.
    10. Fioriti, Davide & Frangioni, Antonio & Poli, Davide, 2021. "Optimal sizing of energy communities with fair revenue sharing and exit clauses: Value, role and business model of aggregators and users," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    11. Hoicka, Christina E. & Lowitzsch, Jens & Brisbois, Marie Claire & Kumar, Ankit & Ramirez Camargo, Luis, 2021. "Implementing a just renewable energy transition: Policy advice for transposing the new European rules for renewable energy communities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    12. Jenny Palm, 2021. "The Transposition of Energy Communities into Swedish Regulations: Overview and Critique of Emerging Regulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-15, August.
    13. Furmankiewicz, Marek & Hewitt, Richard J. & Kazak, Jan K., 2021. "Can rural stakeholders drive the low-carbon transition? Analysis of climate-related activities planned in local development strategies in Poland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    14. Cortade, Thomas & Poudou, Jean-Christophe, 2022. "Peer-to-peer energy platforms: Incentives for prosuming," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    15. Backe, Stian & Zwickl-Bernhard, Sebastian & Schwabeneder, Daniel & Auer, Hans & Korpås, Magnus & Tomasgard, Asgeir, 2022. "Impact of energy communities on the European electricity and heating system decarbonization pathway: Comparing local and global flexibility responses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    16. Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte & Schleich, Joachim, 2023. "Understanding citizen investment in renewable energy communities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    17. Lisa Hanna Broska & Stefan Vögele & Hawal Shamon & Inga Wittenberg, 2022. "On the Future(s) of Energy Communities in the German Energy Transition: A Derivation of Transformation Pathways," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-31, March.
    18. Deyana Spasova & Sibylle Braungardt, 2021. "Building a Common Support Framework in Differing Realities—Conditions for Renewable Energy Communities in Germany and Bulgaria," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-16, August.
    19. Joanna Rakowska & Mariusz Maciejczak & Iwona M. Batyk & Eliza Farelnik, 2022. "Rural–Urban Differences in Solar Renewable Energy Investments Supported by Public Finance in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-19, November.
    20. Carolin Monsberger & Bernadette Fina & Hans Auer, 2021. "Profitability of Energy Supply Contracting and Energy Sharing Concepts in a Neighborhood Energy Community: Business Cases for Austria," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-27, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:24:p:8226-:d:696957. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.