Energetic communities: finding a new sociality?

Following the rising importance of environmental and energetic issues, sociologists have developed a particular interest in the energetic topic. It is a new, exciting approach because before the ’90 there was no attention devoted to the qualitative aspects of energy consumption. In this context, the Renewable Energetic Community (REC) studies have gained significant relevance in the international – and now also in the national – literature. RECs gained attention the moment issues such as economic, social and environmental sustainability entered the public and political discourse, inserting themselves in the narrative which brought us to the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development of the United Nations and the creation of new guidelines for the energetic transition in programmes such as the Next Generation EU. We can define an energetic community as a juridical entity, based on participation and autonomy, formed by stakeholders and active members, aiming to provide energetic self-sustainment. A fundamental part of the REC is the energetic citizen, an active producer of clean and renewable energy and promoter of good sharing practices. In sociology, we have discussed “community” since the studies of Tönnies and Durkheim. First, the community is the instinctive union of actors. For the latter, the community is something which disappears with the advent of modernity. Lifting off from these assumptions of the history of sociological thought, it is interesting to note how the needs – as the change in energetic production – can create the ideal condition for the constitution of community based on sharing, reciprocity, and the desire to reach a common goal. It is a new model of life, which can be seen from the frame of the collective identity and the studies of the sociology of consumption, a field not yet explored thoroughly. The birth of a REC can be analysed using the three spheres of transformation, the personal, institutional, and socio-technological dimensions. They must be studied and considered in synchronicity to build a framework to insert phenomena such as the REC. Our primary interest is the project Ge.Fo.Cal, launched in Basilicata in May 2022, thanks to the efforts of the local municipality of Calvello (PT), the Ministry for Agricultural and Forrestal Policies, Coldiretti and the regional government. It is an interesting case study because it is localised in a region with a complex energetic history. To study this case, we want to start from the network analysis – qualitative, such as the interview with privileged actors and field observations – and from a quasi-econometric approach – quantitative. We think Ge.Fo.Cal represents an innovative case to evaluate the effects of an RCEC on the local community and the potential socioeconomic spill-overs while facing the evolution of the project. The main goal of the research will be to offer a complete overlook of an example, which, if virtuous, can become a pilot for many other similar projects.