Search

Renewable energy has a crucial role in facing climate change. One promising strategy is the creation of energy communities that require active involvement from a bottom-up perspective. Their implementation is difficult, as they currently rely on local policies, community readiness, and technological availability. The objective of this paper is to provide a qualitative overview of energy community concepts and strategies at the European level. The aim is to identify common approaches that are framing the development of energy communities, and to understand the most successful steps leading to their creation and growth. To achieve this objective, a threefold methodology is provided: (1) an updated review on policies dealing with energy communities at the European and Italian level; (2) a qualitative overview of European-funded projects under the Horizon 2020 work program; and (3) a qualitative overview of some of the most successful existing energy communities in Europe. The results outline a series of considerations and lessons learned that are useful for implementing this transition pathway in a real case, which is also presented in the paper. The conclusions will identify some future directions of this research, particularly in relation to the results coming from the implementation of actions in the real case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional energy sources often do not fully satisfy the needs of a modern economy, especially given the climate changes associated with them. These issues should be addressed by diversification of energy generation, including the development of renewable energy sources (RES). Solid biomass will play a major part in the process in Poland. The function of rural areas, along with a well-developed agricultural and forest economy sector, will be a key aspect in this as these areas are suitable for solid biomass acquisition in various ways. This study aimed to determine the solid biomass energy potential in the commune of Goworowo to illustrate the potential in the smallest administrative units of Poland. This research determined the environmental and natural conditions in the commune, which helped to identify the crucial usable solid biomass resources. The total energy potential of solid biomass resources in the commune of Goworowo amounted to 97,672 GJ y−1. The highest potential was accumulated in straw surplus (37,288 GJ y−1) and the lowest was in wood from roadside maintenance (113 GJ y−1). This study showed that rural areas could soon play a significant role in obtaining solid biomass, and individual communes could become spaces for the diversification of energy feedstock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]