Discover step-by-step how to set up and create your own community

 

  • Gather people who are motivated: persons with technical skills and knowledge are important, but the key in energy communities is to be formed by people who are motivated and will be engaged in the long term. (Keep in mind: the motivation can come from the interest and knowledge, but it can also come from a necessity)
  • Identify key leaders within your group, or welcome potential leaders to your initiative.
  • Take into account the existing groups around you that are already creating community in a broad sense, be them energy communities or not. Learn from their successes and mistakes, they may help and boost the energy community.
  • Keep your team informed and engaged: maintain the communication, activities, discussions… (this links to the second step!)
  • Ask questions to yourselves: Who are you? Why did you get organized? What do you want to do? How are you going to do it?
    • Storytelling is key to define and express your own reasons and objectives. → Build a common understanding of what you are and what you want.
  • Define in which type of activities you are going to engage:
    • Energy efficiency and savings
    • Energy production
    • Energy management (sharing, storing, self-consumption…)
    • Energy supply
    • Energy distribution [1]
    • Other energy services
    • Education
    • Mobility
  • Plan your process: once you have defined your aim, think about the process to reach it. Develop your strategy.
  • It is not obligatory to have a legal structure, but most probably you will have to do it in order to carry out your activities.
  • There are many types of legal forms, you will have to choose the one that best fulfills your needs. (In POWERPOOR, we think that an energy cooperative provides a very good legal structure to energy communities from the energy poverty perspective. To find out more: https://www.rescoop.eu/the-rescoop-model) [2]
  • Structure: define your internal rules, who are going to take decisions, who are going to invest, who are going to be in charge (control) of the community, and so on.
  • Support can come from different actors: Municipalities, individual persons, associations, regional administrations, companies, cooperatives, social movements…
  • Support can be in different forms: technical, financial, legal, social, administrative…
  • Create a network around you: reach the wider community.
  • Share your project: motivate others to join you or to start a new project.
  • Remember… an energy community is an ongoing process!

National Guidelines

Find out how Collective Energy Initiatives are regulated across Europe.

Useful features

Energy  Community Checklist

Use the Energy Community Checklist to be sure you covered all the essential steps before creating your community!

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COOLkit

The COOLKIT is a series of reports and dashboards to help you build your energy community. This repository is meant for community leaders and members looking to create an energy community. 

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Useful Links