Renewable energy communities are a new model of decentralized energy production that has been growing in Europe as part of climate change mitigation strategies and the transition to more sustainable energy systems. Driven first by European policy and then by the transposition of legislation at the national level in individual countries, they are considered “an efficient way of managing energy at the community level, consuming the electricity they produce directly for power or for heating and cooling, with or without connection to distribution systems” (Directive COM(2016)864).

The term community is a classic concept in sociology, created by Tönnies (gemeinshaft) and developed by Weber and Durkeheim, which is contrasted with society and is based on the bonds created by personal interactions, with roles, values and beliefs based on these interactions. Since then, the concept has been commonly used, with different meanings, in different branches of sociology.

In the case of renewable energies, the concept of community refers to an ideal type of citizens living in close proximity and coming together to produce and consume energy from renewable sources. In practice, renewable energy communities can be formed by companies or other collective agents and not by citizens, they can arise from an external initiative (from companies, cooperatives or public bodies) and they can be implemented without any kind of citizen participation.

So what does “community” mean in renewable energy communities? This presentation aims to examine the ways in which the term renewable energy communities is defined in three southern European countries: Portugal, Spain and Italy. Who counts as a member of the community? What communalities need to exist? What collective identity is formed? It is based on an empirical analysis of documents (legislation, public policies, documents produced by companies and civil society organizations) and interviews with promoters and key actors in the three countries.