The Regional Agency for Economic Development of Šumadija and Pomoravlja implements the project from Interreg of the Danube program “Creation of suitable operating conditions for communities of renewable energy sources in the Danube region (NRGCOM)” financed by the European Union.
The Danube region is significantly dependent on fossil fuel imports, which raises concerns about environmental impact, energy efficiency and security. Although the concept of renewable energy communities is not well known in the region, its establishment is often hindered by legal, operational, infrastructural or technical obstacles.
The European Union has introduced into its legislation the concept of energy communities, especially civil (CEC) and renewable energy communities (REC) through a package Clean energy for all Europeans adopted in 2019.
In Serbia, renewable energy communities are becoming increasingly important, especially in the context of European and global efforts for a sustainable energy transition. Although this concept is still in development, there are numerous initiatives and projects that promote the use of renewable energy sources at the local level.
That is why the main goal of the NRGCOM project is defined as improving the development of energy communities through the creation of suitable conditions for their efficient functioning in the Danube region.
This project is implemented in 12 countries in the Danube region – Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Croatia, Czech Republic, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Serbia.
The NRGCOM project brought together 13 project partners and 14 strategic partners, including local, regional and national authorities, energy, development and sector agencies, non-governmental organizations, interest groups, higher education and research institutions, as well as renewable energy service providers.
As part of the project, the partners reviewed the legal frameworks, analyzed the operating systems and management techniques of the existing RECs and collected the best practices on the subject.
In this regard, the Report on the conducted comparative analysis of business models and stakeholder management in renewable energy communities was published.
The aim of the analysis is to compare the development/implementation status of communities of renewable energy sources in the countries of the Danube region based on information obtained in individual reports from each of the 12 countries.
In the Danube region, EU member states have adopted the EU directives on energy communities into national laws, but some still need to specify the difference between renewable energy communities (RES) and civil communities. Also, several countries have yet to enact by-laws to regulate grid access, tariff models and energy sharing to facilitate practical implementation.
Energy portal
Source: energetskiportal.rs
