Renewable energy communities

'Energy Commons' are ordinary citizens who join hands to generate renewable energy together and share/deliver the energy to the public grid. Examples include a citizen initiative to put solar panels on town halls, schools or other buildings with suitable roofs and power these buildings and sell the unused remainder to an energy company. Energy Commons play a crucial role in the energy transition, as they provide access to new private capital for renewable energy and mitigate opposition to renewable energy projects such as wind turbines.

In 2018 and 2019, the European Union recognized so-called ‘citizen energy communities’ and ‘renewable energy communities’, promising far-reaching privileges to Energy Commons that achieve this status. The EU legislation called on member states to remove legal barriers to energy communities flourishing.

The EU awarded Björn Hoops a prestigious Marie Curie fellowship at the University of Turin (Italy) to research obstacles in private law. Among other things, private law regulates how Energy Commons can shape their internal organization, how they can finance their projects and what obligations they have to the people who consume their energy.

For this project, Hoops conducted empirical research on the functioning of Energy Commons in practice to confront their wants and needs with private law requirements. Hoops concluded, among other things, that the internal organization of Energy Commons often clashes with specific requirements for energy communities under EU and national law, and that Energy Commons would struggle to respect consumer rights because they are mostly organizations made up of volunteers. These rules under (regulatory) private law threaten to exclude Energy Commons from the privileges for energy communities under EU law in an undesirable way.

Duration of the project

2022 - 2024

Awarded grant

171.473 euros, obtained from Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Contact person at our Faculty

Prof. mr. dr. B. (Björn) Hoops

Websites with additional information