The project is funded by the EU Life program and is dedicated to supporting regional authorities in their role as facilitators of energy communities by establishing One Stop Shops (OSS) to foster the creation of energy communities in their territories.
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 economic, financial, legal, organizational, communicational, and educational aspects.
The regional OSS for energy communities will be developed and tested with the active participation of 5 regional authorities-in Italy, France, Germany, Czech Republic and Greece. 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 energy communities and associated needs.
Consortium:
ECOEMPOWER unites 10 esteemed partners across 6 European countries (Italy, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Greece, Belgium), forming a balanced team composed of 5 public bodies/associations (Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Association Centrales Villageoises, Energie-& Umweltzentrum Allgäu, Pražské společenství obnovitelné energie, PERIFEREIA STEREAS ELLADAS/Region of Central Greece), 3 research centers (Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Università degli Studi di Trento, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Energie Environnement, and 2 private companies (BAUM consult, UBITECH Energy) for a well-rounded consortium.
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UBITECH ENERGY is the leader of WP2 and its three tasks. The WP2’s main objectives and activities revolve around providing technical support to the project’s energy communities. This support includes conducting local power system analysis, offering options for participating in energy markets, and aiding in decision-making regarding new energy assets and efficient resource scheduling. WP2 aims to simplify the technical complexities of energy systems and market participation for these communities by developing a user-friendly web platform tailored to their specific needs. This WP consists of several crucial tasks and will follow a 3-step approach including: (i) defining the platform requirements and energy communities’ use cases, (ii) developing the platform and the different tools comprising it (i.e., forecasting tool for energy generation and demand, energy system modeling and scheduling tool, cost-benefit analysis and decision-making tool, data storage, analytics, cybersecurity, and HMI for the energy communities) and (iii) conducting the validation of the platform and energy analyses for the ECOEMPOWER energy communities. This platform will assist communities in optimizing their energy resources, making informed decisions, and planning for a sustainable energy future while considering environmental impacts and market prospects.