From weaknesses to opportunities. Interregional Event 4
The ShareRES project (Sharing renewable energy through energy communities) partners and their stakeholders met online on the 19th of November 2024.
The purpose of the meeting was for each partner to give the key findings of their regional self-assessments and for partners and stakeholders to work collaboratively on a workshop entitled “From Weaknesses to opportunities – Improving regional policies”. (Each partner developed a regional self-assessment study on the situation in their region regarding the policies for sustainable energy communities.)
Ana Martinez from the lead partner, Extremadura Energy Agency opened the meeting and welcomed partners and stakeholders, there were 31 participants altogether.
Con McLaughlin, Senior Engineer, Donegal County Council gave an overview of the Regional Self-Assessment (RSA) process and invited each Project Partner to give a brief summary of their RSA.
The capacity-building workshop focused on the legal and regulatory changes needed at the local and regional levels, types of ownership and operating models, main actors, activities, and technical and financial conditions.
Miroboard ( www.miro.com) was the software used to facilitate the workshop. It allowed all partners and stakeholders to participate together on a whiteboard, to establish the actors, activities, business models, legal frameworks, weaknesses and strengths and from there progress to the second whiteboard to discuss opportunities, future actions and potential improvements.
As a conclusion, all ShareRES partner countries have great potential for renewable energy and Sustainable Energy Communities (SECs) but there needs to be more awareness to educate communities about their benefits. Also, there is a need for funding for the distribution grid, not just for the creation and operation of energy communities. For some partners it will mean the first pilot project involving sustainable energy communities and this needs to be scalable, there should also be pilot initiatives to facilitate the operation of SECs. Through these pilots and examples of working SECs, policies can be changed.
Overall, it was a very successful meeting with very good participation by all partners and stakeholders. Although the key objectives of the meeting were met, all participants are looking forward to the next inter-regional event in Slovenia.