FIRST INTERNATIONAL ENERGY COMMUNITIES CONFERENCE

What: 1st International Energy Communities Conference

Where: Pavilhão do Conhecimento, Lisbon, Portugal

When: 9th October 2019

How the story began:

At a time when the energy system is undergoing a profound and dynamic transformation process that may result in a system not only 100% renewable, but also a more intelligent network and a more democratic, open and horizontal energy model invite all stakeholders in the sector to discuss the issues facing this new model but also to know examples of renewable energy communities, power sharing and collective self-consumption projects that already exist in Europe and worldwide. Energy communities (EnC) have been defined within the EU framework on climate and energy (Clean energy for all Europeans package). The framework is currently in the process of transposition by the EU Member States. Therefore, Coopérnico (Cooperative Renewable Energy), through the project COMPILE, and the group Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Modeling (CCIAM) of the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (CE3C) of the Faculty of Science at the University of Lisbon (FCUL) through European projects PROSEU and BEACON decided to organize and host the 1st International Energy Communities Conference to offer the chance to debate this matter.

The conference:

The event was aimed at representatives of the energy sector, policymakers, researchers, journalists and NGOs. Among others, the conference was organized by the Portuguese cooperative Coopérnico in the framework of the Horizon 2020 project COMPILE.

The conference was divided in four panel discussion and started off with the presentation of the new regulatory framework for EnC in Portugal by the Secretary of State for Energy. COMPILE partners REScoop.eu and JOANNEUM RESEARCH contributed to the presentations and the first panel discussion on regulatory frameworks. The event continued with a morning break for networking between the participants and was followed by presentations and another panel discussion about methodologies and technologies that can help to build and enable the creation of EnC.

During the afternoon several pilot cases in Portugal, including Lisbon pilot site which is one of COMPILE pilot locations, were presented. In the last panel several cases throughout the world were introduced, followed by a Q&A session.

More information and photos available on the conference website.