Guidance hub

1. Initiation

The initiation phase allows promoters to become acquainted with the fundamentals of Energy Communities, gain insights from existing cases, and receive support in establishing their initial development concept.

You are just a few clicks away from understanding the basics of Energy Communities!

1.1. What is an Energy Community? Explore fundamentals

To create an energy community, it is fundamental to get familiar with the concepts of such initiative.

The user will get understandings and differentiate between   what an Energy Community is and what is not and will get as well clarifications on its most relevant concepts.

1.2. Examples of Energy Communities: Get inspired to aspire

Draw inspiration from existing energy community initiatives and aim to establish your own!

Access to various web databases providing examples of ECs is available. Many of these databases specialize in particular types of ECs, such as rural instances, social housing, islands, and more.

Moreover, identifying and reaching out to counterparts in similar geographic regions could foster future collaborations among ECs and facilitate mutual support.

• EU energy communities Repository: EU main repository with real case examples of ECs
• Rural energy community advisory Hub: Examples on rural energy communities.
• Housing Evolutions Project: Online Database with examples, primarily related to social housing.
• City stories Podcast: Variety of 30′ episodes on issues in ECs and case studies.
• Clean energy for EU Islands: Episodes focused on island energy communities and their best practices.
• Rescoop best practice Guide for Southeast Europe: Document with examples of case studies – with South East EU focus.
• Building Municipal Power energy communities: mPower project displays diverse energy community cases and organisational structures.
• Energifalleskaber DANMARK: Danish examples of energy communities being created.

Summary

Creating a summary document that outlines the initial concepts suggested by the promoters’ group is a practical approach to begin discussions and establish preliminary agreements for the formation of the energy community. This document should cover essential elements such as the long-term vision, short and mid-term objectives, planned energy activities, and prospective participants. Moreover, it will aid in communicating and engaging with other important stakeholders like public administrators and potential investors, thus increasing their participation in the project.

Design

The design phase will allow users to develop a comprehensive and explicit business plan for the energy community, incorporating all the relevant elements, while also ensuring the active involvement of all stakeholders concerned.

Engagement and communication

Energy Communities are fundamentally based on the active participation of all stakeholders. This process requires:

• Tools and methods for collective discussion and decision-making within the energy community. These tools aid in the co-creation and determination of the EC’s key elements.
• Appropriate engagement activities to attract and involve the correct stakeholders in the project, including future partners and customers of the EC, financiers, and local public administration.
• Mechanisms to ensure the stakeholders’ active participation, both in the design phase and in the future governance structure of the EC.

Subsequently, some pertinent documents that promote methods and tools for the collective definition of the Energy Community and the engagement strategies will be presented.

Create your Business Plan

The advancement of an energy community largely hinges on the creation of a sound and coherent business plan. This plan must take into account the fundamental topics of an energy community and outline the principal decisions and agreements established via participatory processes.

Examples of Business Plans

The LIFE BECKON business plan template is not the sole resource available! You can also consult the various documents and guidelines provided in this section for additional support in crafting your business plan. Feel free to choose the material that best fits your requirements:

Selection of Type of Legal Entity

This section helps describing the energy community by defining the types of legal entities and the potential activities of the EC:

Potential activities of ECs

Financing Models for ECs

This section offers several documents addressing the way Energy Communities could be financed:

Idendification of Support Programs

These resources summarizes programs for ECs as well as for solar PV installations:

Feasibility of the Project

Following resources facilitates tools for calculating the feasibility of the ECs:

Evaluation

Identify your strengths and weaknesses:

Implementation

The implementation phase will allow users to formally establish their Energy communities, including the generation of all essential official documents for the entities and the contracting of all necessary services and products through a procurement process. In the implementation phase the energy community will be officially legalised. This includes creating all the official documents necessary for the legalisation. In addition, it is important to contract all the services and products required based on procurement processes:

Statutes and constitution

Support for Procurement

Operation

Once the energy community is established, it is crucial to ensure the proper functioning of the legal entity and the energy projects developed by the EC. It is important to remember that many energy community projects fail in the initial years of operation!

To prevent this, having the appropriate tools for operation and preparing for potential changes within the energy community is essential.

Plan the operation of the EC

An energy community’s operational plan must account for developments concerning both the legal entity and the energy projects.  At the community level, it is necessary to monitor the annual financial outcomes of the Energy Community. Additionally, the operation and maintenance of energy projects are crucial. The LIFE BECKON project provides resources and tools to aid in the upkeep and financial management.

Modification and termination

The Energy Community is an ongoing project, subject to potential modifications in the projects under development and the integration or departure of participants. Consequently, it is crucial to anticipate possible new scenarios and prepare accordingly, including planning for various contingencies and adapting governance structures to changes. Subsequently, a document will be presented that takes into account these changes and even the possibility of the project’s termination