The COMANAGE project stems from the necessity to support and facilitate Energy Communities’ deployment across European countries.

After the establishment of the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package, and, thus, the strengthening of the consumers’ role as active in the energy market, those Communities are gaining a pivotal role in the Italian and European energy transition: they are drivers of environmental, social, economic benefits, as well as facilitators in the fight against energy poverty.

However, even though Energy Communities are spreading in the European territories, legal-administrative, social and financial barriers are still hindering their efficacious and capillary development. And, additionally, although the importance of designing public interventions at the local level has been recognised, it is not possible to find a one-size-fits-all solution to trigger the creation of energy communities: the level of public participation and the type of services required vary significantly depending on the territorial context. Faced with these difficulties, public authorities and policy-makers are faced with the challenge of successfully counteracting those barriers that prevent the development of Energy Communities.

In this context, the COMANAGE project aims to contribute to the implementation of integrated management and governance services, tools and support mechanisms that facilitate the active and effective participation of local authorities in the energy transition, precisely on Energy Communities’ projects and citizen-led initiatives.

Objectives:

• Support the establishment of a transnational and multidisciplinary network of experts and facilitators to enable the management and governance of Energy Communities projects;

• Facilitate the establishment and growth of Energy Communities;

• Train regional and local government staff on the topic of Energy Communities’ management;

• Reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions;

• Stimulate investments in renewable energy sources.

Actions:

• Creation of an Energy Communities Governance Toolkit (ECGT) for regional and local government staff on the management and governance of Energy Communities;

• Implementation of Operational Integrated Services Hubs, which will provide (online and offline) aggregation and services concerning Energy Communities;

• Training and outlining capacity building programs concerning Energy Communities, further supported by an e-Learning platform;

• Development of strategic recommendations on this topic and the possibility of replicating the results obtained on other territories.

Partners:

• Asociacion Ecoserveis - ECOSERVEIS (ES)

• Area Metropolitana de Barcelona - AMB (ES)

• Asociacion Nacional de Empresas de Servicio Energeticos - ANESE (ES)

• Co-operative Leadership and Collaboration Institute Not-for-Profit Civil Society - COOPABILITY (EL)

• Stowarzyszenie Metropolia Krakowska - KMA (PL)

• Anci Associazione Regionale Comuni Italiani Lazio - ANCI LAZIO (IT)

• AISFOR srl - AISFOR (IT)

• Association Mondiale Des Grandes Metropoles - METROPOLIS (FR)

• SPINDOX LABS SRL - SPXL (IT)

• Revolve Water - REV (BE)

This project was funded by the European Union's LIFE programme under agreement no. 101076153