LIFE LOOP – Local Ownership Of Power

Over the past three years, 3 pilots and 7 satellite locations have been weaving a local net of community energy allies, connecting civil servants to c

To have real impact, renewable energy doesn’t rely only on solar panels and powerful investors — it requires first and foremost people coming together

Tangible and concrete outcomes are the ultimate goal for each and every project focusing on energy initiatives. This is why the LIFE LOOP team is part

Dan Chiriac, a regional development expert at the Tulcea County Council, is one of the 20 people in Romania who have so far completed the LIFE LOOP Es

Now that LIFE LOOP is getting to its end, we feel it’s worth looking back – and ahead – to talk about the successful public-private partnerships that

As Europe works on its transition to a sustainable and citizen-driven energy future, local authorities stand at the forefront of change. Community ene

This is the second online gathering of civil servants who decided to get involved in the LIFE LOOP community energy accreditation scheme. REGISTER & E

On 11 June 2025, our team organised an inspiring afternoon around community energy together with other LIFE sister projects. It brought together 80 pi

A new report, Enabling Frameworks for Energy Communities: A State of Play, offers a comprehensive roadmap for policy-makers in 11 EU countries eager t

You’re an energy community enthusiast and you’re in Brussels on June 11th? Join us – the LIFE LOOP team and our partners from other LIFE projects Coma

A new report, issued by the EU-funded LIFE LOOP project this April, examines the policy landscapes, challenges, and opportunities for community energy

Five LIFE sister projects present the creativity of energy communities on the ground to build flexible and inclusive energy systems despite legal barr

by Natasa Ioannou from Center for Social Innovation Cyprus (CSI) Since the beginning, the work of LIFE LOOP in Cyprus has focused on empowering citize

What do Grammy-winner Sabrina Carpenter and Energy Cities have in common? “Baby I know, That’s that me Espresso.” While one produced a mega-hit called

It’s about producing energy collectively, but not only: Community energy schemes bring many local benefits beyond contributing to climate objectives.

The LIFE LOOP accreditation scheme is Europe’s first of this kind. It already gathers over 50 pioneering civil servants who are keen to become better

Over the past years, the EU has done incredible work on putting the citizen at the heart of the energy transition. Much of that might not be very know

In many countries of the former Soviet bloc, people react strongly to the idea of getting involved in community energy. Very often, memories of past (

Great news from LIFE LOOP on the ground: In addition to fresh fruit and vegetables, the City Market in Križevci will soon provide local energy from th

How exactly do community energy projects start from scratch? Finding funding, getting people’s buy-in, choosing the right technologies and partners –

Ilioupoli is a little and quite young town next to Athens. Literally the city’s name means “Sun City” – which makes sense for a place that is gifted w

The new year has just begun and we have excellent news for civil servants in Italy: The energy community Espresso training by Energy Cities in Italian

This is not a “best of the year” article. But with all of us being very busy non-stop, it is possible that you may have missed some of our monthly pod

Would you like your municipality to play a leading and decisive role in the energy transition of your region, putting renewable energy in everyone’s h

“He saw the cities of many people and he learnt their ways.“ tells poet Homer about Ulysses and his long journey. This sounds familiar to the LIFE LOO

Porec is a Croatian town with around 16.000 inhabitants. As a popular summer resort, its population triples during holiday season. And so do the energ

Only 18 km away from Athen’s city centre lies the little town of Fyli. Travelling there is not only a good way to escape from the noise and strain of

Ioannina lies in northwestern Greece and counts around 112.000 inhabitants. The city is home to a number of very active residents who want to protect

Ialoveni is known for its wine production and it hosts Moldova’s biggest icecream producer. But there is more to say about this town located in the ce

As promised, the training part of our LIFE LOOP accreditation scheme, the Community Energy Espresso, is now available in several other languages ! Thi

The city of Zadar is located on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast and counts 71,000 inhabitants. The city has a very rich past and, from what we see in energy

The Energy Communities Facility is a new initiative launched to empower and support emerging energy communities across Europe, providing them with the

Your back at your civil servant desk, but you may still have some fine sand in your sandals or at least plenty of sunny memories of your holidays in y

Everyone has the right and duty to participate in the energy transition. However, not everyone knows well how to go about that. An energy system with

The LIFE BECKON project breaks barriers to delivering a 100% community-led renewable energy transition through awareness raising. It focuses on the be

Using a cemetery to produce and share solar energy? For some it’s polemic, for some others a pragmatic way of tapping into all available resources. No

*This article is based on the Solar Saves stories published on Solar Power Europe’s website. On June 21st, European Solar Day highlights the power and

Citizens and businesses may have the motivation to reduce their energy bill or to produce their own electricity. Often enough, though, they don’t know

The recent EU election results may want you to defend democratic energy (and other) initiatives. Inspiration and hope come from cities like Zagreb, Bi

CommonEN in the North-West of Greece creates local, renewable energy projects, co-designed and co-owned by local people. They have the backing of the

Do you sometimes wish your local authority would be better equipped in community energy issues? And as a citizen, do you wish you could better connect

Solar and wind often come first when people think about energy communities. But they can be so much more! We see more and more citizen-led projects ex

Since the concept of energy communities was initiated, hundreds of projects have been developed to support the creation of energy communities, but the

Meet LIFE LOOP in Brussels: On 12 June from 9:30-11:00 Sara Gollesi from Enostra and Marco Sideri, Mayor of the municipality of Ussaramanna will be ta

Navigating the complex landscape of energy communities can be challenging for municipalities. To empower your local administration and enhance its com

You know that energy can be shared, but you don’t know how to make it happen? You have heard about community energy, but you’re not sure about how you

The search for the one and only, the life-long partner, can be long and difficult. But why not having several ones and meeting them online? Don’t get

Since 2017, Energy Cities is a partner in the PROSPECT+ capacity-building programme on innovative financing, which has already empowered over 300 part

Very often, still, energy community members have that same stereotype profile: they are white, well educated, male…And still, citizen and community

There are so many ways through which local governments can support and kick-off energy communities. From Bulgaria to Belgium, city leaders demonstrate

More than 80% of Croatians are yet to embrace renewable energy and a staggering  90% are unfamiliar with the process of obtaining permits for electric

Since it launched its energy community LICHT Leuven, the Belgian city Leuven has become quite an expert on city-citizen collaboration. Read this inter

December, time to take stock: Over the past year, the LIFE LOOP journey has been marked by several in-person and online workshops, wherepartners share

Let’s start with a statement: Energy communities are something for white, rich and well-educated people. What do you think about that? There is some t

The Community Power Coalition launched its manifesto, “Empower and Accelerate: Energy Communities for a Democratic, Resilient, and Affordable Energy F

The goal of this publication is to illustrate good practices of energy communities in the region, to inspire other citizens to launch their own citize

Local authorities must play a leading role in driving a local, equitable transition. There is a great window of opportunity that local governments mus

Photo: Miriam Eisermann Stubborn optimism is one of the ingredients we brought back from a study visit to the most innovative energy community actions

Sasha from Serbia, Sandy from Greece, Anna from Croatia…what do they have in common? Every European has the right to set up their own community ener

Finance is often a big stumbling block for energy communities, with and without having a local authority involved. During an interview with Enlit, Sta

Last month, Anna Francis, LIFE LOOP project manager from Energy Cities, was invited to the Watt Matters podcast to talk about “neighbourhood watts”. D

How can we foster collaboration between citizen energy cooperatives and local municipalities, empowering communities to jointly develop impactful comm

The Catalonian NGO Enginyeria Sense Fronteres is carring out a research on energy communities and their potential to tackle energy poverty. >> GO TO T

A brandnew report on cities and civil society’s perception of energy community has just been released. It identifies the available capital and present

RESCoop invites you to three days of workshops and exchanges with citizens and other local stakeholders to boost the community energy movement!  When:

It’s time to bring even more local governments, citizens and SMEs to the energy community movement!  With a focus on community solar and energy effici