Renewable energy communities? Few know them. Yet the equation promises so much: I produce energy, I consume it, I share the "advance" with those around me and I remain connected to the national electricity grid, exactly as if I were a normal citizen, or even a company. THE advantages they are intuitive. If I have a renewable energy system (solar panels, wind turbine, small hydroelectric turbine) I make the most of the advantages of green energy, mine and that of my partners. It would happen even if the state didn't help me. But since the state helps me with dedicated incentives precisely to this mechanism, the advantage is doubled.
So here's the big deal, also because everything is centrally administered by GSE, the public manager of energy services, which deals both with the calculations of incoming and outgoing energy flows and, directly, with paying the foreseen refunds. Because an incentive is paid on the energy that circulates in this way within the Renewable Energy Community (CER). Plus we are recognized a refund which added to the incentive is higher, just to give an immediately understandable order of measurement, than what the owner who owns a photovoltaic system can achieve with the mechanism (already quite widespread) of "net metering", the one that allows you to energy with the grid and sell the excess energy produced by its solar panels (with or without storage, i.e. batteries) to the national electricity system at prices similar to those produced by transactions on the Power Exchange reserved for large operators.
Works? Yes. Is it worth it? Certainly. The mechanism is clear and build a CER it's easy? It's not quite like that. The regulatory discipline has existed for some years, but it is transforming. We take stock of the situation below by putting together the information that comes from GSE and some of the main operators in the electricity market.
What are energy communities
An Energy Community is something larger and more extensive than another entity envisaged by our legal system, namely the group of self-consumers. The group of self-consumers represents a set of at least two improper consumers of renewable energy who, as the GSE explains, also illustrating the regulatory references that gave rise to the energy communities, "act collectively by virtue of a private agreement and are located in the same condominium/building. The CER, on the other hand, is a legal entity, which can also take the form of a simple voluntary association between citizens, businesses and commercial activities, bodies and even non-profit organizations, in which local bodies such as municipal administrations can also participate, perhaps with the role of leader. The mission of the community - remarks the GSE - is to "provide environmental, economic and social benefits at the community level to its shareholders a member or to the local areas in which it operates, rather than financial profits". The model of mixed public-private companies presents as intuitive the greatest advantages also for intercepting European incentives which at the moment are particularly substantial: the national recovery and resilience plan (PNRR) in fact provides for loans of 2,2 billion euros at zero interest up to 100% of the eligible costs for groups of self-consumers and renewable energy communities in the municipalities beyond below 5000 inhabitants.
What is the territorial boundary of the Energy Community
The territorial border is currently the first unknown factor to take into account the regulatory and technical evolution of the CERs. At the moment, only those who are can be part of the single CER connected to the same secondary cabin of electrical distribution, the one that transforms medium voltage into low voltage, or rather into the current that materially reaches the normal systems of homes and medium-small business and commercial activities. A regulatory and technical review it is underway, with the imminent publication, which should take place by September, of the new rules by the energy authority (ARERA). With the publication of the implementing decrees, expected by the end of the year, the CERs will be able to expand their range of action to all electricity customers connected to them primary cabin, the one that transforms the current from high to medium voltage. Practically? With the rules in force, it is unlikely that an Energy Community can include the entire territory of a Municipality, even of modest size, while with the new rules much larger CERs could arise, which may even include small neighboring municipalities.
Who can participate in the CER
Everyone can really participate as long as, in the case of companies, the primary purpose is not, as we have said, to make one business. Normal electricity consumers who are not equipped, and perhaps never will be, equipped with renewable energy plants can also be part of it. Even if the main incentive to adopt it derives precisely from participation in the community. Currently, only plants that entered into operation on or after 1 March 2020 can be transferred to the Renewable Energy Community. If then, as often happens, the "net metering" has been activated, the plant must not enter into operation after 16 January of 2021 and therefore, in this case, the date of entry into operation of the plants is curiously "compressed" by two time and methodological limits. A sore and controversial point, an obvious mess for those who had already built a plant that was perhaps already subject to the exchange on the spot mechanism. However, these constraints could be subject to revision in the context of the evolution of the mechanism that will take place in the coming weeks.
Who and how constitutes a CER
The energy community is a legal entity that is established on the basis of a statute which defines all aspects of the functioning of the community, the administrative bodies, the parameters and criteria for the distribution of benefits. Since the mission of the CER cannot be that of financial profit, the scheme of unrecognized associations can also be used, with a simple contract to be registered and with the advantage of limited management costs and organizational obligations. The work is directly facilitated by the GSE, also through an information portal and a site for carrying out simulations precisely to support those who intend to establish an energy community in all the preparatory works, including the correct definition of the statute, and in the procedures of community validation and management.
Is there a model statute to refer to?
There is no “official” model and charter certificate. However, there are some models on the net that experts consider a good reference. For example the present one on the website of Sen. Gianni Girotto (M5S), one of the most decisive supporters of the mechanism.
How the mechanism works
As we mentioned the Energy Community it does not need any particular installation of equipment or control systems. The calculations on the energy flows that distinguish the community are made centrally by the GSE in a "virtual" form. This does not mean that the community can eventually equip itself with technical equipment to improperly monitor instantaneous energy in the area or perhaps to plan further expansion phases in the most effective way.
How incentives are paid
Unlike what happens for a renewable energy plant with metering, the incentives and rebates proportional to the energy flows within the community are not paid to individual participants but directly to the CER, and on the basis of the provisions of the statute will distribute the benefits economic: reimbursements to members proportional to the revenues transferred by the GSE, any refreshments to those who have installed renewable energy plants that contribute to the functioning of the community, loans or contributions for the construction of new green plants, any additional concessions for consumers who operate in activities for social purposes.
How to estimate income
To hypothesize possible revenues, let's take the parameters of a few months ago as an indicative reference, before the upheavals, including tariffs, of the last energy crisis. The reference taken by analysts speculate a overall benefit for just under 120 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) for twenty years on shared energy, consisting of a fixed premium rate of 110 euros per MWh on energy shared in the community, around 9 euros per MWh (also fixed) on 'shared energy to enhance the benefits to the electricity system to which is added the market value of all the energy fed into the electricity grid which until recently was close to around 50 euros per megawatt hour and which today, due to inflation, sees a value around to 200 euro megawatt hour (value in any case variable on the basis of market prices).
Can a CER be set up even in a large urban centre?
Certainly. The criteria we have illustrated apply, without any particular constraint.
Can participants in the Energy Community be customers of any electricity supplier? And can they change it?
No strings attached, no problem. In any case, the local energy distributor collects the data on consumption, irrespective of the operator with whom we have stipulated the contract. So if we want to change the company with which we enter into energy contracts, nothing changes and we need to do nothing more with regard to our participation in the CER. The same GSE will continue to have the useful data from the same operator, ie the energy distributor.
How many energy communities are already active in Italy?
We are still in the early stages but something comforting is emerging. At the beginning of May they were registered with the GSE 37 instances of access, with photovoltaic systems with an average power of 15-20 kW from 23 groups of self-consumers and 14 renewable energy communities located mainly in the North: 8 from Veneto, 7 from Piedmont, 6 from Lombardy, 5 from Trentino-Alto Adige, 2 from Friuli- Venezia Giulia and always 2 from Emilia-Romagna, while in the center and in the south there are two constructions in Abruzzo and one respectively in Campania, Lazio, Sicily, Marche and Tuscany.
