Energy communities are changing the mindset and could trigger a rural revival

Today, I speak with Carlo Tacconelli. Carlo is an international energy expert and CEO of EnGreen, an Italian renewables start-up. Carlo has 16 years of experience in distributed renewable energy systems in Europe and in developing countries. Carlo shares some of that experience in this episode, with a special focus on the incredible power of energy communities.

I left our conversation with much optimism as Carlo talks about all the positive side effects energy communities can bring. I particularly enjoyed listening to him when he talked about the potential of a rural revival. As shared renewable energy is becoming more popular in villages and is creating jobs, we might be able to reverse the trend of rural communities hollowing out. Some people may decide to return to a rural, more self-sustaining life. Here is our conversation with a fantastic glimmer of hope!

Carlo shared some interesting resources during our talk. You may want to check out the Rural Energy Community Advisory Hub.

FREE TRAINING OPPORTUNITY: If this is a topic you would want to dig deeper into, please have a look at our Community Energy Espresso training 2024. Details and enrolment here.

This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. SCCALE is an EU project (Horizon 2020 programme) which makes collaboration happen to get many more energy communities up and running. The people behind SCCALE203050 work on a methodology and toolkit for citizens, cities and policy makers. If you, too, want to see more local energy communities across Europe, check out the toolkit and explore all of the project’s resources at the website sccale203050.eu.