A Review of Renewable Energy Communities: Concepts, Scope, Progress, Challenges, and Recommendations

Shoaib Ahmed (), Amjad Ali and Antonio D’Angola ()
Additional contact information
Shoaib Ahmed: School of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Via dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, PZ, Italy
Amjad Ali: Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (IRC-SES), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Antonio D’Angola: School of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Via dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, PZ, Italy

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-34

Abstract: In recent times, there has been a significant shift from centralized energy systems to decentralized ones. These systems aim to satisfy local energy needs using renewable resources within the community. This approach leads to decreased complexity and costs, improved efficiency, and enhanced local resilience and supports energy independence, thereby advancing the transition toward zero carbon emissions. Community energy plays a pivotal role globally, particularly in European countries, driven by citizen engagement in generating power from renewable sources. The European Union, known for its focus on social innovation and citizen participation, recognizes the essential role of energy communities in its latest energy strategy. The concept for creating local energy communities or community-based energy projects has gained worldwide attention, demonstrating the economic, environmental, and efficiency benefits for using renewable energy sources. However, there is a noticeable gap in research covering all the updated aspects of renewable energy communities. This article provides an in-depth review of energy communities, especially renewable energy communities, exploring their concepts, scope, benefits, and key activities. It also sheds light on their progress by presenting results and analyses. Some countries have shown significant advancement, others are in the initial stages, and a few have partially adopted REC implementation according to the Renewable Energy Directive II. Additionally, it discusses the main challenges and potential recommendations to enhance the growth of renewable energy communities. This work is a valuable resource, emphasizing the importance of citizen involvement and offering insights into various aspects of community energy for sustainable energy transition. It also provides practical insights and valuable information for policymakers, researchers, industry professionals, and community members who are keen on promoting sustainable, community-driven energy systems.

Keywords: energy community; renewable energy community; RED II directive; shared renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/1749/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/1749/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:5:p:1749-:d:1342615

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().