Democratic power sharing in renewable energy communities. Engaging citizens for sustainable energy transition

The concept of energy communities is promising to empower alternative ways of organizing and governing energy systems in the next future. Energy communities will provide to end-users democratic, open access to the grid, and collective self-consumption. They will encourage decentralization and promote distributed renewable energy sources applications. Energy communities are widely recognized to be a fundamental step for a sustainable energy transition. The authors present an innovative power-sharing model that can be easily implemented in new and existing multi-apartment buildings. It allows end-users to collect into a democratic energy community and enjoy beneficial ecological effects and economic benefits.