The main objective of EU-NETS has been to develop a training course dedicated to managers of energy communities, able to provide all the skills required for the creation and management of these innovative tools for the production and the optimization of renewable energy, with the active participation of citizens, businesses and municipalities. EU-NETS focused on three countries, Italy, Spain and Greece, which present several similarities, but also some interesting complementarities especially in the way energy communities are developing. To achieve this objective, EU-NETS set three specific objectives: - An analysis of the energy communities and the context in the three countries involved, in order to identify the profile and skills required for this new professional figure. - The development of a multidisciplinary training course covering all technical, managerial, legal, economic and financial and social innovation related aspects required by energy communities. - the creation of a dedicated e-learning platform, which will allow the delivery of the course in a flexible way and accessible remotely.
Energy communities have been recently introduced and regulated by European legislation, and identified as a very important tool for implementing and supporting the energy transition. In this sense, the development of energy communities is important as it involves directly citizens, small and medium enterprises and municipalities in the process of producing renewable energy and in optimising the rationale use of energy. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan has also paid attention to the development of energy communities, providing significant funding lines to this end in all EU countries. However, the creation and management of energy communities present several problematics linked to a uncertain regulatory context in most of EU Countries and to the operational complexity of these entities, which require specific skills and knowledge at both a technical and managerial level. Community engagement also represent also a key challenge for the success of energy communities.