Source: Beta
Amendments to the Law on Energy opened the possibility for the establishment and operation of energy communities of citizens, but now it is necessary to adopt and change regulatory acts in the field of energy and finance in order to make everything applicable in practice, the Environment Improvement Center announced today.
The press release states that the participants of the panel discussion “Energy in the hands of citizens – Energy communities” assessed that energy communities, in addition to the basic goal of energy production and distribution for greater energy security and lower electricity bills, open opportunities for their members to solve other problems, such as such as air pollution, energy poverty or unemployment, contributing to the overall development of local communities.
Energy communities are organizations that can bring together natural persons, entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises, local self-government units and public facilities within one local self-government, with the aim of joint production, management and use of electricity.
Vladan Šćekić, program director of the Environment Improvement Center, said that energy communities give citizens a greater opportunity to participate in the electricity market and a more active role in the energy transition.
“The energy community enables greater energy security and reduces dependence on large corporations, making local communities more resilient to energy crises, but also has economic, social and environmental benefits,” Šćekić said.
When it comes to economic benefits, Šćekić pointed to the reduction of electricity costs through collective production, retention of capital in the community, attraction of additional investments in local communities, as well as the possibility of employment.
“Energy communities can contribute to strengthening social cohesion and inclusion, strengthening trust between members and the further development of the local community,” said Šćekić, adding that revenues can be used to develop new joint projects for the benefit of members or the local community, which may not be necessarily to be in the field of energy.
He added that the ecological contribution of energy communities should not be neglected, primarily the reduction of emissions of pollutants from thermal power plants and gases with a greenhouse effect, as well as the protection of natural resources in the premises.
Šćekić particularly emphasized the role that energy communities can play in the systemic solution to the problem of energy poverty.
“The energy community can include citizens who are in a state of energy poverty, helping them by subsidizing their electricity bills from the income it generates, and local self-government units can provide electricity from power plants on their facilities, such as schools, hospitals, cultural centers, energy for households that are in a state of energy poverty,” Šćekić said.
In his opinion, the energy community should not be limited to local self-government, but should be extended to the territory of the entire country.
Co-founder and programme director of RES Foundation, Aleksandar Macura, stated that the amendments to the Law on Energy, which define the term energy community, represent a step forward.
“Further development of the legislation should provide us with closer conditions for work and connection, as well as access to the network. What the buyer-producer has made possible for the first time is that the end customer is no longer just a buyer, but becomes an active participant. “With the concept of communities and all the accompanying elements, which this law has not yet elaborated, we will come to a situation where we do something together on that network,” said Macura.
He added that a key aspect is currently missing, namely the concept of energy distribution, which is mentioned but not defined in the new law, but that this will also change.
“Very soon we will be able to distribute energy.” This law left a lot of room for preparation so that, at the moment when all the elements are on the table, we would be able to give the most positive answer to the key question of association, which is ‘how much is my kilowatt-hour worth’. The answer to that question should be yes – it is worth enough for us to join forces,” said Macura.
Director of the Energy Community of the Northern Adriatic, Damir Juričić, said that the economy of the energy community is most affected by the optimization of energy distribution keys.
“The goal is for the energy community itself to operate with higher revenues than expenses, to be financially sustainable, but also for members to have greater benefits than costs on their accounts,” said Juričić.
In this respect, he added, energy communities with few members will probably not work because they will always have higher costs than income.
“If we want to have a serious energy community, to have different plants, a larger number of different members and to truly fully satisfy the energy transition criteria, then that community will certainly have to have several hundred to a thousand members, which is not unusual,” said Juričić. .
The North Adriatic Energy Community, which was founded in 2023 and became operational in August 2024, has a total power of all plants of 150 kilowatts and has 27 members of different structures – citizens and companies that produce and do not produce energy, public bodies and associations.
“The benefits of energy communities are not only direct financial due to savings on the accounts of its members, but there are wider social benefits, impact on local development, creation of new jobs, relief of the network,” said Juričić.