This project aims to involve rural inhabitants in the energy transition process of the European agenda – in line with the horizontal priority “Environment and fight against climate change”, raise awareness regarding the essential role that energy communities can play in such a transition – in line with the horizontal priority “Common values, civic engagement and participation”, and provide the training tools and know-how to increase knowledge on the structure, operation, and benefits of local energy communities in rural areas. As rural areas have differentiated energy needs, it is also an objective to identify potential issues related to energy consumption and production strategies that could empower the rural environment, as well as sharing the acquired knowledge with our target groups. This also applies for differences among rural areas in the UE, where contexts can be quite different, as is the case of the three areas where the project will work in terms of depopulation levels, migration, gentrification, etc. In addition, we expect to broaden the vision of what energy communities mean, beyond electricity consumption and production, to other types of energy use such as heating or mechanical energy, in order to address problems and the resources involved (water remediation, water supply, heating poverty, reforestation…), and connect these “other” energies with traditional activities such as milling, wool laundries. reforestation with local species, etc. The European Union has recently December 2018) legislated on energy communities in the framework of the recast Renewable Energy Directive (REDII), providing them with rights that should guarantee their role in the energy transition promoted by the European institutions. This directive should be transposed into national law by Member States by 30 June 2021, something that in Spain, France and Italy hasn’t happened yet as of May 2021.
However, the sooner the general public is informed about the possibilities energy communities offer and trained on the ways to create them, the faster energy transition will take place and the EU’s objectives in the matter of energy will be
achieved. The reality is that in our rural communities, the concepts of energy transition and renewable energy communities are still not widespread, if known at all. This project aims at filling in this gap, in line with the priority “Promoting Erasmus+ among all citizens and generations”. Beyond the training objective itself, the project also has networking objectives on two different scales. On the one hand, it will plant the first seeds to create networks of local stakeholders who, in the immediate future, could put into practice the knowledge acquired in order to create the first energy communities in our areas . On the other hand, the three organisations involved will set up a working group that will focus on rural energy issues, exchange good practice, reinforce the partners’ work with specific experience, etc.
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