What is an Energy Community?

The LIFE_LETsGO4Climate project aims to develop energy communities. But what exactly is an energy community?

The glossary helps to better understand what an energy community is from a legal perspective, but in practical terms: who can be part of it, what can be done within it, and why should we develop them?

Who can belong to an energy community?

Everyone… or almost! A citizen, a municipality or a group of municipalities, or even a small business¹ can belong to an energy community.
So, several citizens can come together to create an energy community, associating with their local government and/or a locally established company. Similarly, several municipalities can choose to form an energy community and may or may not involve citizens or small businesses in their territory.

The idea is that the people who make up this community control the decisions made within it, and that the main objective of this community is to bring environmental, economic, or social benefits to its members or to its territory rather than to generate financial profits.

What can be done in an energy community?

You can take charge of part of your territory’s energy transition by carrying out projects in the area.

Concretely, this means that you can:

• Share the electricity produced within the community, as already practiced through collective self-consumption.
• Produce energy,
• Supply energy to others,
• Participate in the energy market: aggregation, storage, and electricity sales,
• Provide services related to energy efficiency,
• Offer charging services for electric vehicles,

All these activities were previously carried out by specialized energy companies. Today, with energy communities, citizens, municipalities, and local businesses can come together, develop new skills, and benefit from this type of activity!

Why create an energy community?

There isn’t just one reason to take part in an energy community—there is one for each person involved. Everyone has their own motivation to engage in an energy community project, such as:

• Contributing, at their own level, to the fight against climate change,
• Getting involved in the energy transition of their territory rather than simply experiencing it,
• Understanding how the energy system works,
• Developing an energy production technology,
• Promoting energy efficiency,
• Redistributing locally produced wealth,
• Investing their savings in a local project…

There are as many good reasons to get involved in this type of project as there are participants. Find yours and join the LIFE_LETsGO4Climate project in your area to take part in an energy transition made by you, for you!

Learn more about energy communities and citizen-led energy in Energie Citoyenne: Un guide pratique pour reprendre le pouvoir.”

_{¹ What is a small business? A company with fewer than 50 employees and an annual turnover not exceeding €10 million.}