Dissemination of the European measures for Renewable Energy Shared and Sustainable: analysis of a practical case
The self-production and distribution, on local scale, of clean energy is today the new frontier of a radical change in the energy model, possible by the widespread use of renewable sources and the innovation. An essential change to concretely counteract the climate change. In this evolving scenario has developed in recent years the "prosumer" a subject, from the small business to the family, which at the same time acts as producer and consumer. The next challenge is that of the "energy communities": RESS helps the dissemination of this collective and cooperative approach. Specifically RESS disseminate the methodology and culture useful for planning experimental experiences of energy communities in areas where this experiences are lacking, in light of a growing sensitivity to these issues of the local communities involved, both citizenship and institutions. The approximately 2,400 energy cooperatives, based on renewables, already active throughout Europe and involving almost one million citizens, are largely concentrated in northern Europe, particularly in Germany, Denmark, Austria and Great Britain. In Italy there are a few dozen cases; in the Balkan countries awaiting accession to the EU such as Albania and Montenegro such experiences are completely absent. So far European states on the subject of "energy cooperation" have moved independently and, at times, inconsistent in the absence of uniform European standards, methodologies and policies. This gap was filled thanks to the Directive (EU2018/2001), of 11 December 2018 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, in which, appears for the first time the definition of "energy community". The "renewable energy community" is intended as a real legal entity "the primary purpose of which is to provide environmental, economic or social community benefits for its shareholders or members or for the local areas where it operates, rather than financial profits.