SHINE: Empowering local and regional authorities to brighten community energy across Europe

Energy communities and local and regional authorities are teaming up in the new SHINE project, "Enabling energy communities to SHINE across Europe", which was launched in September 2025.

SHINE aims to empower local and regional authorities (LRAs) with the skills and tools required to maximise opportunities and provide effective support for community energy in their territories.

Funded by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) under the LIFE24-CET-SHINE programme, this initiative will provide operational support services through four national pilot projects in Belgium, Italy, Poland, and Spain, along with replication activities in 11 additional ambassador countries.

More concretely, SHINE will implement the following core activities throughout the three years of the project :

• Optimisation of One-Stop Shop (OSS) for energy communities: SHINE will review and enhance existing tools for energy communities, integrating them into the Energy Communities Platform to create a new, comprehensive portal for LRAs. These tools - including a community energy accreditation scheme for municipalities, a match-making tool, business models, and adaptable templates - will be translated and adapted to the national context of the four target countries.
• Knowledge exchange and capacity building: The project will foster collaboration between LRAs, communities, and experts through peer-to-peer exchange, training, and technical support. Europe's first international working group on community energy OSSs will be created to ensure the exchange of best practices, improve the sustainability and scalability of community energy support services, and foster data collection on community energy impact.
• Implementation of local support services: In each pilot area, LRAs will establish in-person OSSs to directly support community-led projects focusing on district heating, cooling, retrofitting, and renewable energy generation. These services will be developed in line with sustainability principles and local needs.
• Dissemination and replication: The developed tools, services, and methodologies will be disseminated through a network of ambassadors, emphasising replicable, sustainable models, and embedding inclusion, gender, and energy equity considerations.

As project partners, we play a key role in optimising the support services and tools offered by OSS for energy communities, ensuring that these services and tools effectively reach and benefit the maximum number of users - including the provision of material in several languages. The Energy Community Platform will serve as a central hub, consolidating all relevant resources and presenting them in an interactive and user-friendly format.

In parallel, REScoop.eu will reinforce the four pilot initiatives by developing policy recommendations on OSSs and support services for energy communities, which will be grounded in the insights and lessons learned from the experiences of the four pilot cases.

Duration: SHINE started in September 2025 and will finish in September 2028.

Partners: The SHINE consortium is composed of a diverse group of stakeholders, which are the following:

• Associations: Energy Cities (project coordinator) and REScoop.eu (EU);
• Energy communities: E'Nostra Societa Cooperativa (IT), Klimaan (BE), PLZ Spoldzielnia (PL), Zuidtrant (BE);
• Provincial company: Kamp C (BE);
• Environmental consultancy: Ambiente Italia;
• Innovation consultancies: R2M Solution Spain, Fundación Europace;
• Municipalities: Ajuntament de Malgrat de Mar (ES), Comune Di Verona (IT), Miasto Stoleczne Warszawa (PL);
• Energy agencies: ICAEN (ES).