EU energy communities policy tracker

The Regulator of the Flemish Energy and Gas market (VREG) and the Flemish Energy and Climate Agency (VEKA), under the Flemish Minister of Energy, have a duty to carry out an assessment of potential and barriers. An assessment of existing barriers for collective activities was made by VITO on the request of the VEKA. A summary of this assessment is publicly available with an overview of five main barriers for collective activities:

• Finance and Organization;
• Market and Economy;
• Technology;
• Institution and Governance; and
• Regulation

The report by VITO also provides some key recommendations.

NECP reporting on enabling frameworks

Not addressed in the transposition. Member States are required via the Governance Regulation (2018/1999) to report on their enabling frameworks for RECs by 15 March 2023.

Energy communities must register with VREG, who is responsible for publicly displaying all registered energy communities online. However, there is no criteria for who can register, and VREG does not perform any oversight to ensure that criteria are met. As such, there is a strong risk of corporate capture and abuse. In this way, the registration process is too easy, which creates a risk for abuse, as well as conceptual and legal confusion. A more rigorous screening process around compliance with the criteria to be registered as an energy community is necessary in order to ensure citizens can maintain trust in the energy community concept.

Non-discriminatory treatment as market participant

Not addressed in the transposition.

Removal of unjustified regulatory & administrative barriers

Not addressed, although some suggestions have been made in VEKA’s evaluation of the regulatory framework for energy sharing and energy communities.

DSO responsibilities

It is currently possible to conduct collective self-consumption at the building level, and energy sharing beyond building level by RECs and CECs. In accordance with technical regulations developed by VREG, the DSOs developed a Protocol covering management and notification of arrangements for sharing within an energy community, calculation and settlement of volumes, data exchange, monitoring, and handling of complaints. This Protocol was approved by VREG in 2023.

Incentives (tariff, tax exemptions, etc.)

Energy sharing is allowed, but this only affects the energy component of the bill, leaving network charges, taxes and levies, unaffected. No incentives are provided.

In 2023, Energy Ville conducted a CBA on behalf of VREG on incentives connected to network tariffs for energy sharing. The scenarios used for the CBA were based on a 10 year period (2025-2035). The CBA concluded that under existing conditions, energy sharing does not change the DSO’s investment needs. Factors considered include current individual capacity tariff structure, and the mismatch between off-take peak of individual consumers involved in sharing (winter, evening) and times of maximum PV production (summer, afternoon). Nevertheless, it also concluded that if PV installations are correctly sized, located, and there is sufficient flexibility to steer production within the collective activity, energy sharing could reduce grid losses.

If this assessment had been conducted based on a longer time period, the results may have been different, indicating a benefit to the grid (as was the case in a somewhat similar CBA conducted in the neighbouring region of Brussels). Furthermore, the CBA implicitly suggested that the existing framework for energy sharing is not ideal. Therefore, while the CBA adopted a negative conclusion, its should not be seen as an indictment against energy sharing’s potential benefit to the grid. After some revisions to the legal and regulatory framework, which will be necessary after further revisions to energy sharing under EU legislation, another CBA, based on a longer time period, should be conducted.

Under the initiative of the Flemish government, Technical Assistance Hubs (TEAH) have been set up to support local actors in setting up an energy community. Municipalities and OCMWs (Public Social Welfare Centres) that have signed on to the Local Energy and Climate Pact (LEPK) and have pledged to integrate a social component into their climate commitments will receive assistance from a Technical Assistance Hub. This includes support for starting an energy community that also specifically aims to benefit people in a situation of energy poverty. The Hubs are managed by regional intercommunal associations and supported by the Flemish government through subsidies (3 million euros provided over three years for development of good projects). Those working around energy poverty and renewable energy stand a better chance of getting support. Signees receive a grant, with a target of 1 in 500 residents accessing the activities of an energy community.

Energy Houses, which have been set up by the Flemish Government, also assist household customers who meet certain income limits in installing PV installations. The Energy Houses provide guidance consisting of at least:

technical and practical guidance when requesting and comparing quotes for the installation of a photovoltaic installation;
administrative support when applying for premiums and loans to finance photovoltaic installations;
Guidance may also consist of facilitating connection to an energy community within the building, where the power from other PV installations is shared with families from the target group.

Not all the Energy Houses are up and running yet, and they may be merged with the TEAH. The ambition expressed in this initiative is very positive. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how the objective of getting vulnerable households involved will concretely be achieved.

Basic information on energy communities and energy sharing are available on the websites of the Flemish Government/VEKA, VREG and Fluvius. The Energy Houses are also specifically focused on providing citizens with advice on energy efficiency and home renovation measures. Specifically, they offer basic, structured information on:

• relevant municipal, provincial, regional and federal energy policy measures;
• energy premiums and loans, including loans from the financial sector;
• energy renovations;
• housing quality; and
• renovation loans

The Energy Houses also provide guidance and support on:

• applying for premiums and loans;
• carrying out supplier comparisons and, where applicable, changing energy supplier;
• requesting and comparing quotes for energy renovation works and renovation works in the context of housing quality;
• the execution of energy renovation works and renovation works in the context of housing quality, and the provision of support in this regard, including services resulting from energy scans carried out by the energy house, aimed at providing guidance in the implementation of energy-saving investments; and
• the interpretation of thermographic information, the solar map, the results after an energy scan and the energy performance certificate.

Energy Houses are not directly there to support Energy Communities. However, they could be helpful to groups of houses in the same building that set up an energy community and engage in renovations. Furthermore, a TEAH was set up at the end of 2023 to assist in setting up an energy community.

Energy Houses are compensated 700 euros for each initiated guidance around helping household customers who meet the income limits in installing photovoltaic installations or joining an energy community within the same building.