Evaluating Energy Communities: A New Social and Economic Model for Implementing the Ecological Transition

The European Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, establishes the possibility of creating 'Renewable Energy Communities (REC)' for the production and consumption of energy from renewable sources, stimulating the transition from a centralized to a decentralized energy system. By putting citizens at the center of the energy transition, REC represent a virtuous socio-economic community model in which citizens, businesses and administrations become 'prosumers', actively integrated in a participatory and democratic process to support the energy transition. Considering both the complexity and the variety of factors that influence the evolution of this phenomenon and also the multidimensional implication of this new socio-economic model, this study aims to provide the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that influence citizens' energy communities and to establish a methodology to quantify or qualify these impacts. In this study, 26 KPIs were identified and divided into three dimensions: environmental, economic and social. The proposed KPIs were applied on two Italian case studies, selected as 'pioneers' examples of REC, allowing their comparison at multidimensional level. The findings confirm that REC represent a model able to generate multiple benefits and, for this reason, their evaluation become a necessary step in monitoring progress (in itinere) and results (ex post). This aspect makes KPIs particularly useful not only as an ex post evaluation tool but also as a method to support decision-making. Future research could test more case studies and verify the variation of the results obtained in relation to the different contexts considered.