Energy Communities under the Clean Energy Package Transposition Guidance

The document offers detailed guidance on defining, regulating, and supporting Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) and Citizen Energy Communities (CECs) under the EU's Clean Energy Package. It emphasizes the need for non-commercial purposes, democratic governance, and the removal of administrative barriers to empower citizens in the energy transition. The guide provides specific recommendations on legal forms, effective control, market access, and the design of support schemes, while drawing on examples from various EU Member States and the US to illustrate best practices for implementation.

• Both RECs and CECs must be established as legal entities with a primary purpose of providing "environmental, economic or social community benefits for its shareholders or members or for the local areas where it operates, rather than financial profits."
• RECs are more restrictive than CECs, requiring that they be "effectively controlled by shareholders or members that are located in the proximity of the renewable energy projects that are owned and developed by that legal entity."
• Member States are required to establish an enabling framework for RECs that removes "unjustified regulatory and administrative barriers" and ensures participation is accessible to "low-income or vulnerable households."
• National support schemes should be designed to allow RECs to "compete for support on an equal footing with other market participants," which may include creating "tailored bidding windows for renewable energy communities."
• CECs have the potential to own and manage distribution networks if Member States exercise their discretion to allow them to act as distribution system operators (DSOs).
• The guide recommends that Member States avoid conflating the organizational definition of energy communities with specific activities like "collective renewables self-consumption or energy sharing."
• Network charges for RECs and CECs must be "transparent, non-discriminatory and cost-reflective," and should be based on a "transparent cost-benefit analysis of distributed energy resources."
• Regulatory sandboxes are recommended as a tool for testing innovative business models and technologies in a limited setting to "reduce uncertainty for both market participants and regulators."
• National regulatory authorities (NRAs) are tasked with monitoring the "removal of unjustified obstacles to and restrictions on the development of CECs."

APA

ClientEarth (n.d.). Energy Communities under the Clean Energy Package Transposition Guidance. https://www.clientearth.org/media/rr1aqpji/energy-communities-transposition-guidance.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Energy Communities under the Clean Energy Package Transposition Guidance. n.d. https://www.clientearth.org/media/rr1aqpji/energy-communities-transposition-guidance.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Energy Communities under the Clean Energy Package Transposition Guidance |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/rr1aqpji/energy-communities-transposition-guidance.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearthndenergy, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Energy Communities under the Clean Energy Package Transposition Guidance}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/rr1aqpji/energy-communities-transposition-guidance.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }