New project accelerates the development of renewable energy communities

REScoop.eu is partner in a new project called COME RES, which is the acronym for Community Energy for the uptake of Renewables in the Electricity Sector. Connecting long-term visions with short-term actions. Its focus is on community energy projects and renewable energy communities and its funding of almost three million euros comes from the European Union as part of the framework program for research and innovation, Horizon 2020.

The project has officially started on September 1, 2020 and has a duration of 30 months.

Following the online kick-off meeting and the first work package meeting, we can say that COME RES is already moving forward, notwithstanding COVID-19 conditions.

COME RES aims to facilitate the market uptake of RES in the electricity sector by supporting, with a set of specific activities, the implementation of the provisions for renewable energy communities (RECs) as defined in the new Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001. Taking a multi- and transdisciplinary approach, COME RES aids the development of RECs in nine European countries: Flanders/Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain.

With the revised Renewable Energy Directive, the rights and obligations of renewable energy communities were regulated for the first time in 2018. All the EU member states are obliged to develop a corresponding regulatory framework by June 2021. The project partners are accompanying this transposition of the new EU legal framework in the partner countries and investigate potentials, drivers, barriers, legal framework conditions, business and financing models, and transfer conditions in connection with community energy projects and renewable energy communities. They will also analyse positive examples and support national, regional, and local authorities in regulatory issues and in expanding capacities. Finally, they are planning to compare the transposition and implementation of the new EU legal framework in the various countries.

COME RES covers different socio-technological systems including community PV, wind (onshore), storage and integrated solutions. The countries selected range from pioneers that have gained broad experience of community energy (CE) to countries that are just beginning to look at CE. COME RES analyses political, administrative, legal, socioeconomic, spatial and environmental characteristics, and the reasons for the slow deployment of RECs in selected target regions. Eight stakeholder desks consisting of the project partners and committed energy communities, cooperatives, municipalities, associations, public authorities, market and policy actors in each country assist the consortium to carry out the operational tasks.

Our objectives will be reached by:

• analysing the potentials, barriers and drivers for RECs in the target regions,
• carrying out stakeholder dialogues,
• developing regional action plans and business-model proposals for selected target regions,
• examining good/best practice cases that are transferable to specific local, regional and national contexts,
• initiating transfers of best practice solutions via policy labs supported by capacity development and training and
• developing a renewable energy community platform.

REScoop.eu supports the energy transition to a decentralized, renewable, efficient, clean and sustainable energy system with citizens at its core. We refer to the energy transition as “the energy transition to energy democracy.” We believe that REScoops are the most appropriate business model to keep this transition fair and affordable for citizens, and to make sure no one is left behind. Moreover, REScoop.eu and its members participate in EU funded projects to set up services and build tools for its members, while we also follow up on relevant policy issues.

In more detail, REScoop.eu played an important stakeholder role in the development of the Clean Energy for All Europeans Package by the European Commission with provisions for citizens and energy communities. In addition, the federation developed a detailed Energy Communities transposition guidance on the status of transposition in several Member States. Apart from EU advocacy and representation services, REScoop.eu fosters the growth and further professionalisation of energy cooperatives across Europe and provides networking opportunities. Furthermore, REScoop.eu facilitates international collaboration between energy cooperatives and developed a wide range of services on financing cooperatives and on electric car sharing.

In COME RES we participate in a lot of tasks in the different work packages. We contribute our practical knowledge in the field of local community practices, regulation, permitting, implementing, funding, financing and provide impact assessment for renewable energy to the project, as well as to the project’s outreach strategy, building on our established links with community energy initiatives, as well as with local, regional and national decision-makers. In this context, we and our members will participate in the Country Desks, promoting the stakeholder dialogue to co-create solutions to overcome existing barriers for the growth of community energy. The country desk participants meet at least three times within the project lifetime. Furthermore, thematic workshops and policy labs will be organised.

The country desk:

• promotes experience sharing,
• helps to identify barriers and drivers for community energy in the target regions,
• helps to identify proven and innovative measures and concepts to promote community energy
• helps to identify and select good practice cases
• explores the possibilities of transferring good practice and concepts from/to other regions
• discusses (interim) findings and outcomes of the project
• supports the COME RES project partners in the dissemination of the project results.

Moreover, we also play a strong role in the dissemination of the project output and cooperate with the Lead partner ICLEI on the European Policy Roundtable and on organizing the concluding COME RES conference.

Contact Stavroula Pappa and Dirk Vansintjan for more information.

In addition to REScoop.eu, the other project partners in COME RES are:

• Freie Universität Berlin – Environmental Policy Research Centre, Germany (Coordination)
• Asociación Canaria de Energías Renovables (ACER), Spain
• Becker, Büttner & Held (bbh), Germany
• Center for International Climate Research (CICERO), Norway
• Ecoazioni, Italy
• ECORYS españa, Spain
• Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e),The Netherlands
• Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l'energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile (ENEA), Italy
• Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO)
• ICLEI European Secretariat (ICLEI), Germany
• Institute of Physical Energetics (IPE), Latvia
• Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI), Portugal
• Latvian Environmental Investment Fund (LEIF), Latvia
• Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Norway
• Polish National Energy Conservation Agency (KAPE), Poland