Co2mmunity – Renewable community energy projects

Together with 15 project partners from eight countries, Co2mmunity fosters community energy projects and disseminates the idea among the target group of municipalities, institutions responsible for regional energy planning as well as energy and citizen´s associations. The project understands community energy as energy provision managed on the local and community level, with citizens being directly involved through funding and decision-making.

At the core of Co2mmunity is the implementation of so-called renewable energy cooperative partnerships (RENCOPs) which are local partnerships that initiate and support community energy projects. Within the RENCOPs, citizens and municipalities are connected with experts in the field of renewable energy to help facilitate and accelerate the development and installation of community energy projects. Each RENCOP is set up with citizens, authorities and a coordinator, but may appear in different forms depending on local circumstances.
RENCOPs make it easier to involve and connect community energy stakeholders, and this also happens on a larger transnational scale. Through a transnational community energy agreement, experiences are exchanged across the partnership and communities from different countries work together closely.

The regional challenges and activities are collected and presented in a RENCOP Roadmap, a guideline which bundles the created knowledge and capacity as a tool for fostering community energy. In a joint database the project shows the undertaken RENCOP activities, and policy recommendations are developed to create a supportive environment that stimulates the implementation of community energy projects and brings the topic on the political agenda. All the activities within the project aim at increasing the share of renewable energy by promoting and fostering community energy in the partner countries.