Date
21 February 2023
10 – 11.30 CET
Platform
Google Meet
Short Description
Renewable energy communities (RECs) are a good example of how the transition from fossil to renewable energy sources can help to reconsider how energy is produced and distributed, promotive collective local projects. Next to traditional centralised distribution, with electricity being generated in large power plants and transported to the end-user, local renewable energy communities gain in importance and have a huge potential in future energy systems.
CEnTOUR project www.circulartourism.eu is supporting 67 Tourism SMEs from Italy, Spain, Greece, Moldova and North Macedonia in the transition to circular practices on several topics, including energy.
The online conference has been opened by a keynote speech by Gilda Massa – ENEA Scientific Manager of COME RES project (https://come-res.eu/). The keynote has been followed by the experience of the energy community of Magliano Alpi, in Italy, presented by Sergio Olivero, Head of Business&Finance Innovation at the Energy Center of the Politecnico di Torino.
Speakers
Gilda Massa – ENEA (Italian National agency for new technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development)
Sergio Olivero – President of Scientific Committee of the REC Energy City Hall
Introduction by
Elena Gentilini – Progetto Arcadia
Moderator
Valentina Castellani – Progetto Arcadia
Agenda
10.00-10.30: Gilda Massa (ENEA) “Energy Community: the main elements to evaluate and the COME RES project experience”.
10.30-11.45 Magliano Alpi’s REC for local sustainable development
11.00-11.30 Q&A
Description
The first speaker was Gilda Massa, ENEA Scientific Manager of COME RES project (https://come-res.eu/). She presented the legal framework of Renewable Energy Communities (REC) including the existing possibilities for external funding, the technical specifications of renewable energy plants and networks that can be part of a REC, and some interesting tools developed by ENEA to help the monitoring of energy use and the economic benefits stemming from the REC.
The second speaker, Prof. Sergio Olivero, presented the experience of the energy communities in Magliano Alpi, Italy, highlighting legal and technical requirements that are important to establish a REC.
Take-home messages from the Q&A session:
- It is important to involve municipalities, but they cannot manage all the economic and technical issues by themselves (especially small municipalities)
- Private entities (such as SMEs) are important to ensure a good development of the REC along time
- Developing a REC is a multi-disciplinary process, so it’s important to have good technical support from a broad range of subjects. Involving universities may ensure multi-disciplinarity and a third-party approach, without direct economic interests at stake
- One of the roles of RECs is to guarantee the redistribution of economic revenues with an ethical approach, to promote local development.