European training for energy community managers

Energy communities have been recently introduced and regulated by European legislation, and identified as a very important tool for implementing and supporting the energy transition. In this sense...

The main objective of EU-NETS has been to develop a training course dedicated to managers of energy communities, able to provide all the skills required for the creation and management of these innovative tools for the production and the optimization of renewable energy, with the active participation of citizens, businesses and municipalities. EU-NETS focused on three countries, Italy, Spain and Greece, which present several similarities, but also some interesting complementarities especially in the way energy communities are developing. To achieve this objective, EU-NETS set three specific objectives: - An analysis of the energy communities and the context in the three countries involved, in order to identify the profile and skills required for this new professional figure. - The development of a multidisciplinary training course covering all technical, managerial, legal, economic and financial and social innovation related aspects required by energy communities. - the creation of a dedicated e-learning platform, which will allow the delivery of the course in a flexible way and accessible remotely.

The first activity carried out consisted of an in-depth analysis of the legal framework in Italy, Greece and Spain and a mapping of the energy communities existing in these countries, in order to define their main characteristics. Interviews were carried out with the competent institutions and authorities to validate and integrate the information obtained through the desk research. In the second activity, the partner organizations designed and implemented the training course, defining and developing the training modules into which the course is structured. The methodology adopted for the development of the course, included an analysis of the learners, carried out through an online questionnaire, the development of the contents of the modules and the validation through pilot courses, carried out in the three countries involved in the project. In the third activity, the partners developed a dedicated e-learning platform, specifically designed to facilitate the delivery of the course in a flexible and multilingual way. In addition to these activities, partner organized three training course for the future trainers of the course and 6 multiplier events to present the results obtained to the target groups and stakeholders.

EU-NETS produced the following tangible outcomes: 1) a survey on the energy communities in Italy, Greece and Spain describing the legal framework and an overview of existing energy communities. From this study, partners developed a scientific publication that has been published in the peer-reviewed, open-access journal 'Sustainability'; 2) a training course on “energy community manager”. The course is made of 6 modules: legal framework, energy sources and technological aspects, structure of a typical energy community, management and operation aspects, economical and fiscal aspects, community engagement and social innovation. The course has been also developed in two levels: a basic course for people without experience and a professional one, for people already familiar with the energy sector. 3) a dedicated learning platform, where all training material and video lessons for each module are available. Other valuable results of the project have been the organization of two virtual round tables, with the involvement of representatives from policy makers and energy communities from Italy, Greece and Spain and the organization organization of 3 pilot courses. In total more than 160 people attended the multiplier events.