Renewable energy communities in the agri-food sector: uncharted territory but we are here to help

There’s no European blueprint for building energy communities

Building energy communities across Europe sounds straightforward in theory. In practice, it is anything but. Each region has different regulations, different levels of maturity and different local realities. That complexity is exactly why projects like AGRICOM matter.

AGRICOM is an ambitious support action targeting the EU agri-food sector in pursuit of creating renewable energy communities. While the concept is gaining traction across Europe, the legislation is far from being unified –EU countries have different requirements and frameworks, meaning that only local experts can provide adequate support in setting up a community.

Earlier this month, the AGRICOM consortium* met in Trento, Italy. What I value most in this consortium is the nature of the collaboration itself. Each member brings vast experience with energy transition projects while having a direct connection to the region they represent. That combination is essential, as we are working on different parts of the same puzzle. We all are pioneers on the path of popularizing energy communities among farmers. In fact, we are now breaking new grounds by setting up the very first energy community in Croatia.

Why farmers are in the spotlight

The agri-food sector is the focal point of AGRICOM. This sector is labour-intensive, and that leaves little room to dive into the specifics of energy communities – from preparing business and technical plans or getting a well-rounded understanding of the legal requirements.

This leads to missed opportunities such as:

• reducing the dependence on centralizedenergy supply
• increasing resilience to market pricevolatility, and
• building a tight community that has acommon goal.

AGRICOM’s role is not to shift the focus of farmers toward energy, but to translate this complexity into something that fits within existing realities, so that they don’t have to divert their attention from their business.

Where policy meets operational reality

What AGRICOM makes tangible is that the energy transition will not be accelerated by ambition alone. It will depend on whether the objectives can be translated into realities that work within everyday operational life. Farmers do not need to become energy experts for energy communities to succeed. But the structures around them do need to become far better at integrating energy transition. That may be one of the most important conditions for scaling energy communities across Europe.

(*) the consortium is madeof Th!nk E, Innovi, DAFNI, ZEZ, Energie Commune and FTC