ECOEMPOWER’s core concept is to empower regional authorities as energy community facilitators by establishing a One Stop Shop (OSS). The OSS serves as a comprehensive hub, both physically and virtually, offering citizens and stakeholders a range of integrated services and digital tools. These resources encompass not only technological support but also encompass economic, financial, legal, organizational, communicational, and educational aspects.
Energy communities will be central to the EU Green Deal strategy. They have the potential to help reducing greenhouse gas emissions noticeably and quickly , as half of all European Union citizens could be producing their own electricity by 2050, meeting 45% of the EU’s energy demand (Delft, CE Delft, September 2016). Energy communities require stronger local actions and citizen owned initiatives.
The ECOEMPOWER project funded by the EU Life program shall promote and support the establishment of regional One Stop Shops for energy communities. The OSS will be developed and tested with the active participation of 5 regional authorities-in Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece and Italy. Within those regional authorities, there will be active involvement of 15 Pilots, each of them corresponding to one local energy community project according to the Definition of Renewable or Citizen Energy Communities (RECs / CECs). Pilots have been chosen to represent various stages of development of the energy communities and associated needs.
THE ROLE OF FBK
Fondazione Bruno Kessler – through its Center for Sustainable Energy – is in charge of the coordination of the project and of the monitoring system that evaluates the impact of the project activities on the pilot cases.
The Consortium
Fundamental for the project is the interdisciplinary consortium of 10 partners coordinated by Fondazione Bruno Kessler, through the Centre for Sustainable Energy.
- 3 research centers and academic bodies:
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italy) | Università degli Studi di Trento (Italy) | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Energie Environnement (France) - 5 public bodies / association:
Provincia Autonoma di Trento (Italy) | Association Centrales Villageoises (France) | Energie-& Umweltzentrum Allgäu (Germany) | Pražské společenství obnovitelné energie (Czech Republic) | PERIFEREIA STEREAS ELLADAS/Region of Central Greece (Greece) - 2 renowned industrial partners:
BAUM consult (Germany) | UBITECH Energy (Belgium)
LINKS
Project website:
https://ecoempower.eu/
Social media:
LinkedIn
Press release:
https://magazine.fbk.eu/en/news/life-ecoempower-project/
MORE INFORMATION
Project Acronym
ECOEMPOWER
Project Name
ECOsystems EMPOWERing at regional and local scale supporting energy communities
Funding programme
LIFE 2027. Call and Topic: LIFE-2022-CET | LIFE-2022-CET-ENERCOM
Project Coordinator
Cinzia Morisco | Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italy)
Starting date
September 2023
Ending date
August 2026
Duration
36 months
Project ID
101120775
Total eligible costs
ERDF grants

ECOEMPOWER is a LIFE project, co-funded by the European Commission under contract n°101120775. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
