Best practice guide for community energy in South-East Europe

The goal of this publication is to illustrate good practices of energy communities in the region, to inspire other citizens to launch their own citizen energy communities, following the steps of- and reaching out for support to the frontrunning initiatives.

As illustrated in this guidebook, citizens in the Balkan region have started testing renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and adapting the concept of community energy in their context, improving in this way their local environment and livelihoods. Some of them do so in partnership with their local governments, notably those who are also partner in the LIFE LOOP project.

Mature initiatives from Greece have started connecting and providing support to new energy initiatives in Albania, as well as in Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova, where good collaboration exists with local municipal authorities. Similarly, in Croatia while new initiatives emerge in the country, the existing mature initiatives have already been supporting initiatives in the wider region, like in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia where a first energy community is about to launch its first community energy project.

This booklet has been produced in the context of the European Citizen Energy Academy, involving LIFELOOP partners RESCoop.eu and Electra Energy.