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A just transition away from fossil fuels and to community-centered solar and wind energy is the way to deal with climate change
The ongoing energy transition brings new opportunities for utilisation of distributed energy resources (DER) and for the evolution in the role of end-users from passive consumers to active customers, who both produce and consume energy.
Lynmouth Road, Walthamstow is about to become its own power station, with solar energy for 30 homes. Now the artists responsible want us all to change how we heat our homes. By Anna Fielding
L’énergie citoyenne se développe doucement en France. Mais l’État doit donner plus de visibilité et de moyens à ces projets portés et financés par des citoyens.
Local community groups are often seen as being against renewable energy sites or other projects to support the energy transition. But there is a rise in different ownership and funding models that includes local residents who do want to support the quest for a decarbonised economy
Edinburgh, Scotland. On the rocky western coast of the remote Scottish island of North Uist, a link in the Outer Hebrides archipelago, loom two 250-foot-tall (76 meter) onshore wind turbines with a…
Le territoire de Loire-Atlantique, qui fait partie de la région des Pays de la Loire, en France, recevra 48 millions d'euros de subventions de l'UE du Fonds pour une transition juste (FTJ) pour soutenir une transition climatique juste.
As energy bills climb and fears grow that consumers will become unable to heat their homes, some are pointing to the EU’s newly-created “citizen energy communities” as a way of enabling entire neighbourhoods to produce their own electricity or insulate homes.
This policy paper by the Jacques Delors Institute, aims at drawing lessons from the French movement of the Yellow Vests for EU climate policy. It argues that Yellow Vests were not against the carbon price or climate action per se, they were against socially-unfair climate policy. The overall legitimacy and efficiency of the EU Green Deal would be strengthened if the polluter-pays principle is applied consistently, and if climate policies take into account people’s differentiated capabilities and responsibilities in the face of the climate crisis. The just transition is a narrow path that jointly addresses the climate and social emergencies and calls for renewed governance to better take into account daily realities of all citizens. If an EU carbon price on heating and road transport is eventually charged on EU citizens, mitigating risks of social backlash would require the adoption of : socially-fair price signals (e.g. remove exemptions for businesses, industry or aviation), more ambitious regulations (high Minimum Energy Performance Standards for existing buildings and CO2 standards for cars), adequate financing and technical assistance (sufficiently funded and frontloaded Social Climate Fund), and a more inclusive governance (mandate and support involvement of all stakeholders in the energy transition decision-making, include strong multi-level governance in the Social Climate Fund). These recommendations hold with or without ETS2 but become all the more important if ETS2 is adopted. Beyond the need to avoid social unrest, the “Fit for 55” climate package is above all a unique opportunity to implement a socially-just transition that would alleviate existing carbon inequalities, hence strengthening the EU social cohesion and future resilience.
Authorities in Barcelona have announced the start of a pilot test that will see the provision of free solar energy to low-income families in the city with the goal of lightening their energy bills. The electricity will be produced and provided by photovoltaic pergolas installed in public spaces around the city. The proposed aim of the project is to see whether this is a viable path to creating self-sufficient energy communities in the Catalonian capital. Likewise, it is a way to maximize the efficient use of public space surfaces in a way that brings benefits to the communities living in their vicinity.
Last week, Ireland’s Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, formally inaugurated the country’s first large scale solar farm. The site is located near Ashford in County Wicklow and it hosts more than 30,000 solar panels, which will directly connect to the electricity grid.
This project represents a significant departure from Ireland’s previous renewable energy strategy, which focused heavily on on-shore wind turbines, marking the Millvale solar farm as the first of its kind for the Republic.
This briefing authored by Bankwatch and REScoop.eu aims to explain the concept of energy communities and their societal benefits. It specifically targets national managing authorities of Cohesion Funds. It also provides an overview of the EU legal definitions for energy communities, the barriers to their development, recommendations on how to support them and examples of energy communities in Central- and Eastern Europe.
The research shows that the most significant barrier slowing the development and scaling of both new and existing energy communities is the lack of accessible, targeted and consistent funding and financing. Government Programmes and grant support instruments are essential and needed in the early stages of setting up and developing energy communities. Cohesion funds can support this initial phase of energy communities, allowing them to develop sustainable business models. We encourage Member States to utilize this source of funding to create strong enabling frameworks for community energy.
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Massilia Sun System a lancé une nouvelle centrale électrique solaire sur le toit de la Cartonnerie à la Friche la Belle de Mai. C'est le quatrième projet d
*** REGISTER NOW *** for our online panel discussion on Friday 24th March 09:30-10:45 CET, “Electricity Market Design: how can reforms accelerate the transition and help cut energy prices?” Our panellists are Catharina Sikow-Magny, Director, DG ENER; Wanda Buk, Vice-President for Regulatory Affairs, PGE; Leonardo Meeus, Director of the Florence School of Regulation; Jérôme Le Page, […]
The European Union needs to reform its electricity market as quickly as possible in order to stabilise prices for consumers and stimulate investment in renewables, EU politicians have told EURACTIV.
Adam Aron, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego writes on The Conversation website about the results from his recent books that explains three reasons why local action addressing climate change is more powerful than many people realise. 3 reasons local climate activism is more powerful than people realize Global warming has…
Energy communities can make an enormous contribution to climate goals but their efficiency and effectiveness can be boosted, smartEn advises.
With the power not only to counter climate change but also bringing considerable environmental, economic, and social benefits – the number of renewable energy communities and cooperatives in Europe is increasing. In central and eastern Europe, however, prospective energy communities have to overcome significant odds – with a lack of support and investment at the national level. EU-level rhetoric will have to be backed up by real commitments if the targets to boost such projects are to be met.
El 'Estudio del potencial fotovoltaico de 150 centros educativos en la Comunidad de Madrid' ha sido elaborado en colaboración con la empresa IMPACT-E
Minister Zorana Mihajlović signed an agreement with GIZ on the Promotion of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Serbia.
In line with the REPowerEU communication and the revised EU rules on renewable energy published today, EU Member States are required to map suitable land and sea areas for renewable energy project. This means designating ‘renewables go-to’ areas, and avoiding environmentally valuable areas.
The Commission has made available relevant datasets in the Energy and Industry Geography LabSearch for available translations of the preceding linkEN••• online platform to support Member States in identifying these go-to areas. This will help in the rapid deployment of new installations for the production of energy from wind and solar renewable sources.
The platform was developed by the Joint Research Centre and launched in December 2021. It brings together a wealth of information on relevant energy, industry and environmental factors to support infrastructure planning for the energy transition.
This report develops a sociotechnical understanding of energy prosumerism to investigate how energy prosumerism can lead to actual reductions of energy and resource demand. The report starts out by explaining what a sociotechnical and broad understanding of prosumerism means. Thereafter, the report summarises already existing research on energy social science and humanities relating to renewable energy generation, domestic energy use, and energy communities. The report then delves into the matter of energy sustainability by explicating the concept of sufficiency and achieving actual reductions instead of continued escalations of energy use. The report concludes with the main findings that a broader and more nuanced understanding of energy prosumerism can provide a novel conceptualisation relating to energy provision and everyday life that can lead to future reductions in energy use, as well as a more multifaceted policy response that moves away from business as usual and towards more variegated and radical propositions for achieving sustainable energy use in the future.
Viennese authorities have said that they will invest over 1 billion euros in sustainable energy in the next five years. The funds will go towards renewable projects with an increased focus on hydrogen and especially geothermal energy.
Renewable energy communities involve groups of citizens, social entrepreneurs, public authorities, and community organisations participating directly in the energy transition by jointly investing in, producing, selling, and distributing renewable energy. Beyond the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, there are many benefits for the communities involved, including economic development, the creation of new jobs, cheaper energy, self-sufficiency, community cohesion, and energy security. Regional authorities can support the emergence of energy communities by providing financing, expertise, and advice, and ensuring that regulatory issues can be easily understood and navigated.
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