Periodic Reporting for period 3 - SocialRES (FOSTERING SOCIALLY INNOVATIVE AND INCLUSIVE STRATEGIES FOR EMPOWERING CITIZENS IN THE RENEWABLE ENERGY MARKET OF THE FUTURE)
Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2022-12-31
The main idea behind the SocialRES project was to provide tools able to contribute to the mitigation of the global warming with the production of renewable energy, and, at the same time, involve citizens in the clean energy transition by cover relevant needs of the society. Social innovation has been identifies as the tool implement this idea. Social innovation is an essential facilitator of energy democracy. The most common businesses associated with social innovation in the renewable energy sector are Cooperatives, Aggregators and Crowdfunding platforms. These businesses facilitate an increase in energy democracy by enhancing the number of local decentralised clean energy projects and by allowing the consumer to take a more active role.
The following nine case studies of social innovations have investigated in the project:
• RES crowdfunding platform ABUNDANCE in UK
• RES cooperative Energetica in Spain
• RES cooperative I-ENER in France
• RES cooperative Coopernico and crowdfunding platform GoParity in Portugal
• RES cooperative GreenEnergy represented by REGEA in Croatia
• Two RES cooperatives in Baden-Württemberg, Germany managed by Lake Constance Foundation (LCF)
• Aggregation Virtual Platform managed by TRACTEBEL in Romania.
The aim of the SocialRES project was to close non-technological research gaps that impede the widespread uptake of social innovation business models and services in the European renewable energy sector.
The following nine case studies of social innovations have investigated in the project:
• RES crowdfunding platform ABUNDANCE in UK
• RES cooperative Energetica in Spain
• RES cooperative I-ENER in France
• RES cooperative Coopernico and crowdfunding platform GoParity in Portugal
• RES cooperative GreenEnergy represented by REGEA in Croatia
• Two RES cooperatives in Baden-Württemberg, Germany managed by Lake Constance Foundation (LCF)
• Aggregation Virtual Platform managed by TRACTEBEL in Romania.
The aim of the SocialRES project was to close non-technological research gaps that impede the widespread uptake of social innovation business models and services in the European renewable energy sector.
During the 1st reporting period (1st May 2019 – 31st August 2020), the consortium has defined the bases for the identification of the non-technological research gaps that unleash the uptake of social innovation in the energy sector. This was done with the analysis of the driving factors for social innovation in the energy sector, with the SWOT analysis of the SocialRES cases studies, with the preparation of the online survey for the participants of the SocialRES case studies, with the installation of the smart meters for the collection of data needed for the behavioural analysis. Based on the results of the SWOT analysis, the matchmaking workshops and study visits have been scheduled. The study visits have been postponed to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The workshops were held online. The activities related to policy recommendations started during the 1st reporting period with the activities leading to a white paper on good policy practice for social innovation.
During the 2nd reporting period (1st September 2020 – 31st August 2021), the consortium has further deeply investigated the social innovations targeted by the SocialRES project: crowdfunding, cooperatives and aggregation. This was done with the comparative analysis of existing business models for RES cooperative, aggregators and crowd-funders and with the publication of the white paper on good policy, with the collection and analysis of the data collected from the survey of the SocialRES cases studies and the survey of the general public and the publication of the related discrete choice experiment. The mutual learning platform has been developed and launched under the name of EESIP – The European Energy Social Innovation Platform: www.eesip.eu.
During the 3rd reporting period (1st September 2021 – 31st December 2022), the consortium has valorised the results obtained in the previous reporting period to define the behavioural aspects of citizens involved in social innovations and the guidelines to establish new social innovations. New business models for social innovations have been defined and the methodology on how to adopt them was provided. Another relevant milestone was the definition of the roadmap for the establishment of virtual P2P energy trading platform for residential neighbourhood. During the 3rd reporting period there was an extensive work on the policies related to social innovations for the energy sector leading to the preparation of toolkit for policy assessment of social innovations and the related policy recommendation. The results from the SocialRES project have been intensively disseminated also in the 3rd reporting period with the webinars and the European Energy Social Innovation Platform: www.eesip.eu and the related video.
30 results were identified and carefully addressed by exploitation activities. Beyond the comparative analysis on users’ behavior, and the policy recommendations, the analysis covered all the outcomes that can be of value to partners and the society as a whole: advancement in knowledge in key social innovation topics, new or advanced methodologies/models (e.g. toolkit to assess policy impact, models to analysis social business models, social innovation SWOT), processes (e.g. process to generate new business models). But also products, such as the P2P platform of Tractebel, or the Mutual Learning Platform; and recommendations, which are leveraged especially by case study providers to scale up their business models, or to upgrade towards new models.
During the 2nd reporting period (1st September 2020 – 31st August 2021), the consortium has further deeply investigated the social innovations targeted by the SocialRES project: crowdfunding, cooperatives and aggregation. This was done with the comparative analysis of existing business models for RES cooperative, aggregators and crowd-funders and with the publication of the white paper on good policy, with the collection and analysis of the data collected from the survey of the SocialRES cases studies and the survey of the general public and the publication of the related discrete choice experiment. The mutual learning platform has been developed and launched under the name of EESIP – The European Energy Social Innovation Platform: www.eesip.eu.
During the 3rd reporting period (1st September 2021 – 31st December 2022), the consortium has valorised the results obtained in the previous reporting period to define the behavioural aspects of citizens involved in social innovations and the guidelines to establish new social innovations. New business models for social innovations have been defined and the methodology on how to adopt them was provided. Another relevant milestone was the definition of the roadmap for the establishment of virtual P2P energy trading platform for residential neighbourhood. During the 3rd reporting period there was an extensive work on the policies related to social innovations for the energy sector leading to the preparation of toolkit for policy assessment of social innovations and the related policy recommendation. The results from the SocialRES project have been intensively disseminated also in the 3rd reporting period with the webinars and the European Energy Social Innovation Platform: www.eesip.eu and the related video.
30 results were identified and carefully addressed by exploitation activities. Beyond the comparative analysis on users’ behavior, and the policy recommendations, the analysis covered all the outcomes that can be of value to partners and the society as a whole: advancement in knowledge in key social innovation topics, new or advanced methodologies/models (e.g. toolkit to assess policy impact, models to analysis social business models, social innovation SWOT), processes (e.g. process to generate new business models). But also products, such as the P2P platform of Tractebel, or the Mutual Learning Platform; and recommendations, which are leveraged especially by case study providers to scale up their business models, or to upgrade towards new models.
Some progress beyond the state of the art were already visible during the 1st reporting period with the decision to develop the European Energy Social Innovation Platform (EESIP), which was launched during the 2nd reporting period and it provided an added value to the SocialRES project through its positioning at European level in the field of social innovation for the renewable energy sector. In addition to that, the development of the world's first crowdfunding council bond and the EU first council green bond has provided another added value to the SocialRES project in the achievement of energy democracy.
In the context of the European Green Deal, the SocialRES project analysed the crucial role that citizen acceptance and support for renewable energies will play achieving the ambitious political target of net neutrality by 2050.
There are two main potential impacts in the SocialRES project. The first potential impact is related to the provision of a better understanding of socioeconomic, gender, sociocultural, and socio-political factors of social innovation and their interrelations with technological, regulatory, and investmentrelated aspects, in support of the goals of the Energy Union and particularly its research and innovation pillar. The second potential impact is related to the development of practical recommendations for using the potential of social innovation to further the goals of the Energy Union, namely, to make Europe's energy system more secure, sustainable, competitive, and affordable for Europe's citizens.
A first step in developing practical recommendations was utilizing a qualitative approach to find empirical evidence of the barriers and enablers that energy communities, crowdfunders, and aggregators face in the EU context. In depth interviews with stakeholders from across the EU, provided depth that the secondary literature could not, and empirically validated some of the theoretical arguments the research is centred on. The results of this analysis were presented in the White Paper on Good Policy Practice. In the next steps, the SocialRES project provided policy recommendations on how the role of social innovations can be strengthened, based on evidence gathered from the bottom up, including all stakeholders; the citizens, the policymakers, and the social innovations themselves, taking into account their diversity across the EU.
In the context of the European Green Deal, the SocialRES project analysed the crucial role that citizen acceptance and support for renewable energies will play achieving the ambitious political target of net neutrality by 2050.
There are two main potential impacts in the SocialRES project. The first potential impact is related to the provision of a better understanding of socioeconomic, gender, sociocultural, and socio-political factors of social innovation and their interrelations with technological, regulatory, and investmentrelated aspects, in support of the goals of the Energy Union and particularly its research and innovation pillar. The second potential impact is related to the development of practical recommendations for using the potential of social innovation to further the goals of the Energy Union, namely, to make Europe's energy system more secure, sustainable, competitive, and affordable for Europe's citizens.
A first step in developing practical recommendations was utilizing a qualitative approach to find empirical evidence of the barriers and enablers that energy communities, crowdfunders, and aggregators face in the EU context. In depth interviews with stakeholders from across the EU, provided depth that the secondary literature could not, and empirically validated some of the theoretical arguments the research is centred on. The results of this analysis were presented in the White Paper on Good Policy Practice. In the next steps, the SocialRES project provided policy recommendations on how the role of social innovations can be strengthened, based on evidence gathered from the bottom up, including all stakeholders; the citizens, the policymakers, and the social innovations themselves, taking into account their diversity across the EU.