Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SHAREs (Simple and Smart Energy Communities for All)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-09-01 bis 2023-02-28
The European Union paves the way for an energy revolution by putting the consumer in the driving seat of the green transition process. Energy communities offer the unique opportunity for consumers to form critical mass and become renewable energy producers, improve energy efficiency, store heat and power, feed energy back into the grid and offer their demand flexibility to the market. However, the current requirements of becoming a prosumer bear a crucial risk that ultimately there will be a two-speed energy world: those who have the knowledge, access and opportunity to become a prosumer, and those who lack the resources, know-how, education or time to participate in and benefit from the new opportunities that energy communities provide.
Therefore, there is a clear need to support local heroes (i.e. those potentially interested in founding an energy community or set up collective actions) in establishing their energy community and enable them to motivate and target consumers directly, including those who do not yet have an affinity for energy or are simply unfamiliar with the concept of energy communities.
SHAREs supports the set-up of new energy communities as well as other collective actions and helps existing energy communities to grow on a larger scale. It aims to equip local heroes with the SHAREs Gateway, a country-specific one-stop-shop, that allows them to launch and expand a large variety of collective actions in a simple and smart way.
Therefore, there is a clear need to support local heroes (i.e. those potentially interested in founding an energy community or set up collective actions) in establishing their energy community and enable them to motivate and target consumers directly, including those who do not yet have an affinity for energy or are simply unfamiliar with the concept of energy communities.
SHAREs supports the set-up of new energy communities as well as other collective actions and helps existing energy communities to grow on a larger scale. It aims to equip local heroes with the SHAREs Gateway, a country-specific one-stop-shop, that allows them to launch and expand a large variety of collective actions in a simple and smart way.
The focus of the activities in the first half of the project was primarily on the implementation of measures that serve to build the basis for the targeted promotion and support of energy communities and the development of the SHAREs Gateway according to the needs of the target group.
The starting point was a comprehensive analysis of the country-specific legal and regulatory framework in the SHAREs partner countries AT, DE, GE, BG, HU, and HR. The results have been published and provided a first orientation on national legal definitions of energy communities, policies for their establishment and expansion as well as contractual conditions with actors of the energy system for energy communities. Based on this analysis, existing barriers and enablers for energy communities have been identified and summarised in a report that aims to support policy developers in turning their national legal and regulatory frameworks more beneficial for energy communities.
An important field of activity was the establishment of a network of relevant stakeholders. Six national working groups for policy makers have been established within the project. The national project partners are in close contact with their working group throughout the project duration and consult them as needed. Furthermore, the consortium established a strong transnational network of pioneers, which has expertise in building up and running energy communities. Through this Pioneer Circle SHAREs supports the networking of pioneers on a transnational level and gains direct access to knowledge on how to set up energy communities/collective actions on the regional and local level.
Aspiring energy communities are supported and accompanied in the project as pilot communities. The 20 SHAREs pilots have already been brought into the project in all partner countries in the first half of the project and initial working meetings have taken place with all of them. Through a coordinated mentoring scheme pioneers are passing on their first-hands experiences to the pilot communities of SHAREs and help them grow. This also helps to promote the international development of a network of energy communities and their exchange.
However, the central outcome of the project in the first period was the development of the SHAREs Gateway. The first step in the development of the SHAREs Gateway was the analysis of relevant target groups for energy communities and the development of suitable communication strategies. In parallel an inventory of all existing platforms and tools that could be useful for fostering energy communities and collective actions was created.
The SHAREs Gateway was created in the form of an English blueprint , which serves as a WordPress template for the implementation on the national level. National versions of the SHAREs Gateway have been implemented in each target country of the project, based on the developed blueprint. The blueprint provides a structure, divided into different thematic focuses, to create national information hubs for energy communities. It consists of modules that include information on topics related to the support of informed decisions and energy communities, e.g. possible project concepts, legal background, financing, best practices, FAQs, etc. One important module of the SHAREs Gateway is a communication campaign that provides local heroes with the appropriate information and tools to reach important target groups for building their energy community. The campaign serves as a basis to allow local heroes to “pick and mix” a wide range of different communication methods. The content is available in English and can all be used directly, translated and also adapted to national needs.
The blueprint is modular and national partners as well as other users can decide for themselves whether individual sections should be removed or whether additional ones are necessary to meet national needs.
The starting point was a comprehensive analysis of the country-specific legal and regulatory framework in the SHAREs partner countries AT, DE, GE, BG, HU, and HR. The results have been published and provided a first orientation on national legal definitions of energy communities, policies for their establishment and expansion as well as contractual conditions with actors of the energy system for energy communities. Based on this analysis, existing barriers and enablers for energy communities have been identified and summarised in a report that aims to support policy developers in turning their national legal and regulatory frameworks more beneficial for energy communities.
An important field of activity was the establishment of a network of relevant stakeholders. Six national working groups for policy makers have been established within the project. The national project partners are in close contact with their working group throughout the project duration and consult them as needed. Furthermore, the consortium established a strong transnational network of pioneers, which has expertise in building up and running energy communities. Through this Pioneer Circle SHAREs supports the networking of pioneers on a transnational level and gains direct access to knowledge on how to set up energy communities/collective actions on the regional and local level.
Aspiring energy communities are supported and accompanied in the project as pilot communities. The 20 SHAREs pilots have already been brought into the project in all partner countries in the first half of the project and initial working meetings have taken place with all of them. Through a coordinated mentoring scheme pioneers are passing on their first-hands experiences to the pilot communities of SHAREs and help them grow. This also helps to promote the international development of a network of energy communities and their exchange.
However, the central outcome of the project in the first period was the development of the SHAREs Gateway. The first step in the development of the SHAREs Gateway was the analysis of relevant target groups for energy communities and the development of suitable communication strategies. In parallel an inventory of all existing platforms and tools that could be useful for fostering energy communities and collective actions was created.
The SHAREs Gateway was created in the form of an English blueprint , which serves as a WordPress template for the implementation on the national level. National versions of the SHAREs Gateway have been implemented in each target country of the project, based on the developed blueprint. The blueprint provides a structure, divided into different thematic focuses, to create national information hubs for energy communities. It consists of modules that include information on topics related to the support of informed decisions and energy communities, e.g. possible project concepts, legal background, financing, best practices, FAQs, etc. One important module of the SHAREs Gateway is a communication campaign that provides local heroes with the appropriate information and tools to reach important target groups for building their energy community. The campaign serves as a basis to allow local heroes to “pick and mix” a wide range of different communication methods. The content is available in English and can all be used directly, translated and also adapted to national needs.
The blueprint is modular and national partners as well as other users can decide for themselves whether individual sections should be removed or whether additional ones are necessary to meet national needs.
With the SHAREs Gateway, a standardised solution has been developed that enables countries in the EU to implement effective one-stop-shops for the support of energy communities and other collective actions in a straightforward manner. It is the first template of its kind, an online platform with a ready-made structure and already elaborated helpful content. This will be a key enabler in supporting local heroes in building energy communities and other collective actions in the SHAREs partner countries and beyond. The national SHAREs Gateways represent unique offers in the partner countries AT, BG, DE, GE, HR, HU which do not exist in this form otherwise and can thus make a relevant contribution to establishing the concept of energy communities also in those countries where it is not yet widely developed and widespread, and to making it easier for newcomers to get started.
Another essential contribution of the project is to support the 20 SHAREs pilots in their development and to continue networking with the pioneers so that they can benefit from their experiences. The SHAREs Gateways will also be used by the pilots to expand their community. In this way, the project will support energy communities both directly and indirectly across different levels, enabling the creation of as many as possible and maximising the impact of the project.
The SHAREs Gateways have been completed at the end of the first project period, so no broad dissemination activities have started yet. The aim for the second project period is to raise the public visibility for the topic of energy communities and the results of SHAREs, particularly the SHAREs Gateways. For this, the focus in the second period will be on the implementation of broad and diverse communication measures to maximise the awareness of the project and its results in order to activate as many users as possible. Through the project's communication and dissemination activities so far, over 500,000 people have already been reached, which underlines the interest in SHAREs‘ activities.
Another essential contribution of the project is to support the 20 SHAREs pilots in their development and to continue networking with the pioneers so that they can benefit from their experiences. The SHAREs Gateways will also be used by the pilots to expand their community. In this way, the project will support energy communities both directly and indirectly across different levels, enabling the creation of as many as possible and maximising the impact of the project.
The SHAREs Gateways have been completed at the end of the first project period, so no broad dissemination activities have started yet. The aim for the second project period is to raise the public visibility for the topic of energy communities and the results of SHAREs, particularly the SHAREs Gateways. For this, the focus in the second period will be on the implementation of broad and diverse communication measures to maximise the awareness of the project and its results in order to activate as many users as possible. Through the project's communication and dissemination activities so far, over 500,000 people have already been reached, which underlines the interest in SHAREs‘ activities.