In order to help mitigate the climate crisis and achieve the goal of European decarbonization by 2050, the EU Directive 2018/2001 on the Promotion of Renewables (RED II) was enacted by encouraging active participation by citizens themselves. The text, specifically, introduces the concept of Renewable Energy Communities, defined as a legal entity that […] is based on open and voluntary participation, is autonomous and is effectively controlled by shareholders or members who are:
- located near the renewable energy production facilities that are owned and developed by the legal entity;
- whose shareholders or members are individuals, SMEs or local authorities, including municipal governments;
- whose main objective is to provide community-based environmental, economic or social benefits to its shareholders or members or to the local areas in which it operates, rather than financial profits.
It is a new model of energy production and management leveraging the creation of a network of different actors, public and private, in an area who are actively involved in terms of sustainability and circularity.
Its members, in fact, are defined as prosumers (producer/producer + consumer/consumer) in that they can take energy, self-produce it, feed the excess into the grid or share it with other members. Therefore, RECs provide energy and electricity bill savings, offer support to families in distress, and reduce local environmental impact.
In Italy the transposition of the European directive had started in 2020 and the first energy communities were activated in 2021 so that, today, there are about 20 realities already operating throughout the country.
A key aspect of CERs is community and local involvement. So how can Local Authorities intervene?
- By promoting awareness of it by involving different stakeholders
- By facilitating their activation process
- By becoming members as producers and/or consumers
- By making their own facilities available
Various administrations are taking an interest in this initiative, in particular as CISA we are offering our help in advisoring services in the territories of Valmalenco, Saronnese and the Milanese hinterland and in some areas of Emilia-Romagna; the Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna regions are in fact intervening precisely in local legislation to support the development and monitoring of RECs and the same PNRR provides € 2.2 billion to finance their establishment in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants.
Renewable Energy Communities are therefore an opportunity for territories and their communities because allow benefits on the social-economic-environmental front, not only locally but also globally.
