Checklist

In the following checklist, you will find a step by step approach to carry out an assessment of the existing barriers and potential of development of renewable energy communities.

Step 1: Preparation of the assessment

Checklist questions:

  1. What are the relevant energy community stakeholders in the Member State?
  2. Is there an appropriate “monitoring system” in the Member State?
  3. If not: Are there any data on energy communities?

Step 2: Assessment of Barriers & Drivers

Leading questions to be reported on:

  • What are relevant barriers to the development of energy communities in the Member State?
  • What are the main drivers of energy communities in the Member tate?
  • Are there any regional differences within the member state in this regard?

Checklist questions:

  1. How many resources are available? How much is already known about barriers & drivers for energy communities in the member state?
  2. Do you want to perform a rapid or a participative assessment?
  3. Which typology of barriers and drivers shall be used?
Participative assessment design Rapid assessment design
  1. What do we know from the literature on barriers and drivers of energy communities in the country?
  2. What could be meaningful indicators for barriers and drivers in the Member State?
  3. Do you want to use the standardised questionnaire? With some country-specific additions?
    Questionnaire (EN)
    Questionnaire (DE)
    Questionnaire (PL)
  4. Who is expert on barriers and drivers for energy communities and could be asked in qualitative interviews?
  5. What are relevant stakeholders who can interpret results from literature review, indicator analysis and survey/interviews?
  1. What do we know from the literature on barriers and drivers of energy communities in the country?
  2. Do you want to use the standardised questionnaire? With some country-specific additions?
    Questionnaire (EN)
    Questionnaire (DE)
    Questionnaire (PL)

Step 3: Assessment of the Potential

Leading questions to be reported on:

  • How many energy communities could potentially evolve? How much could the installed capacity be?
  • How many energy communities are likely to evolve? How much capacity are they expected to develop?
  • What are likely/plausible/potential scenarios?
  • Are there any regional differences within the member state in this regard?

Checklist questions:

  1. Which type of assessment methodology shall be used – sector-development, bottom-up modelling or a mix of both?
Sector-development approach Bottom-up modelling approach
  1. Which data on the current energy community sector and its development are available?
  2. Which forecasting method shall be applied?
  3. What are political targets and/or future projections for installations of the relevant technologies? --> Calculate community share
  1. Are any studies on willingness to invest available? Alternatively: Are there enough resources to do an own study for the purpose of the assessment?
    If both questions are answered with no: Choose for sector-development approach! Otherwise: Use willingness-to-invest data as input!
  2. Depending on the exact modelling approach: What are reasonable assumption regarding financing conditions, shared ownership ratios and/or specific investment costs?
  3. What are political targets and/or future projections for installations of the relevant technologies? --> Calculate community share

Step 4: Evaluation of Costs & Benefits

Leading questions to be reported on:

  • What is known about costs and benefits of energy communities in the member state?
  • If quantifiable: How large could net benefits be if the potentials were to be realised?

Checklist questions:

  1. Which costs and benefits or which typology of impacts shall be used for the assessment?
  2. What does the literature tell us about these impacts of energy communities, specifically in the member state?
  3. If no literature is available or state of knowledge not satisfactory: Are there enough resources to do an own impact evaluation?

Step 5: Policy Database, Selection of Measures and Their Evaluation

Leading questions to be reported on:

  • Which measures have been adopted as part of the enabling framework?
  • Which barriers and drivers do these policies address?
  • What are the impacts of these measures?

Checklist questions:

  1. Which are the most pressing barriers or most effective drivers?
  2. What is known about the effectiveness and efficiency of measures taken elsewhere to address these barriers and/or drivers?
  3. How can impacts of the measures taken as part of the enabling framework for energy communities be evaluated?