Creating appropriate operational conditions for renewable energy communities in the Danube Region

The Danube region is highly dependent on imported fossil fuels, which raises environmental, efficiency and safety concerns. The concept of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) is not well known in the region and their operation is often hampered by legal, internal operational, infrastructural or technical barriers.

The overall objective of NRGCOM is to promote the dissemination of energy communities by creating a suitable environment for their smooth functioning in the Danube region. NRGCOM builds on a multi-level approach involving 13 project partners (PPs) + 14 associated strategic partners (ASPs) from 12 countries, including local/regional/national authorities, energy, development and sector agencies, higher education and research institutions and a renewable energy service provider.

As part of the project, the partners will review the legal framework, analyse the operational systems and governance techniques of existing RECs and collect best practices on the subject in order to develop policy recommendations to address the bottlenecks encountered, and finally design a common model/strategy that prepares for the creation of appropriate conditions for the establishment of RECs in the Danube region.

Based on the results, the partners will develop guidance to create the right conditions, to encourage the population and to establish, manage and run an energy community in the Danube region, taking into account legal, social, infrastructural, economic and sustainability aspects.