Energy: Online ENEA guide on energy communities

The Energy Community, a vade mecum developed by ENEA in collaboration with the Agency for Energy and Sustainable Development of Modena (AESS) and the University of Bologna, is online. The guide describes energy communities as a tool for ecological transition and to contrast climate change, empowering citizens to interact with the energy market as “prosumers”, i.e. people who produce and consume their own renewable energy.

Free to download and easy to consult, the vade mecum describes how energy communities operate and what their purpose is, providing answers to the key questions that title its chapters: What - What is an energy community; How - How to create an energy community; Why - Why an energy community; Where - Where are energy communities; Which - Which support to the community; Who - Who makes up the energy community.

The guide also explains the environmental benefits of a renewable energy community: according to the most recent estimates, a typical Italian family consumes about 2,700 kWh of electricity per year. A photovoltaic system would allow to save about 950 kg CO2 / year, equivalent to the quantity of CO2 absorbed by approximately 95 trees. The vade mecum also contains an actual map of energy communities at Italian, European and world level, an overview of existing technologies, updated regulations both in Italy and in the European Union, a focus on energy poverty and a handbook with keywords.

The guide was developed as part of the project GECO (Green Energy COmmunity), funded by the EIT Climate-KIC fund, coordinated by AESS -of which ENEA is a partner together with the University of Bologna- with the aim of promoting citizens’ involvement and creating an energy community in the Pilastro-Roveri district in Bologna. The initiative is inspired by the concepts of smart city and the circular economy to combat energy poverty and is based on the shared use of energy and renewable sources to lower the energy bills of citizens and the approximately 900 companies operating in the area, through a mix of renewable sources, distributed generation, energy storage and consumption optimization.

Currently the project partners are working to involve local institutions and associations in co-designing environmental education workshops in schools, to extend the knowledge of the energy community to students as well. ENEA is also developing an app to inform citizens on how to monitor and optimize consumption and adopt a lifestyle curbing waste and environmental impacts.

La comunità energetica - Vademecum 2021 (Italian Abstract)

To download the vademecum (Italian)

For more information please contact:

Gianluca D’Agosta, ENEA -  Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources  Department, gianluca.dagosta@enea.it

Francesca Cappellaro, ENEA - Sustainability of Productive and Territorial Systems  Department, francesca.cappellaro@enea.it

Project GECO: https://www.gecocommunity.it/