Shares

SHAREs is an EU-funded initiative and supports so-called local heroes in setting up or expanding their energy community by building up national one-stop-shops.

Participating in energy communities allows consumers to become renewable energy producers, improve energy efficiency, store heat and power, feed energy back into the grid and offer their demand flexibility to the market. Individual consumers thus become collective prosumers.

The key to engage all citizens, including those who do not yet have an affinity to energy or are simply unfamiliar with the concept of energy communities. For this reason, a SHAREs Gateway will be the central digital platform in each partner country where local heroes can find all information they need to set up or expand their energy community.

The SHAREs consortium comprises partners from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, and Hungary.

 

How SHAREs supports energy communities and collective actions

The key to engage all citizens is through well-equipped local heroes. For this reason, a Gateway will be the central digital platform in each partner country where local heroes can find all information they need to set up or expand their energy community.

SHAREs supports local heroes by creating these country-specific platforms (SHAREs Gateways), which offer:

1. a country-specific information package to equip local heroes with all necessary information to set up their energy community (e.g., legal framework, model contracts, or business models);
2. building blocks of a tailored “pick-and-mix” communication campaign to enable them to promote their energy community or collective action effectively to their most relevant consumer groups.

Rather than starting from scratch, SHAREs makes the most of existing initiatives, project results, and national as well as European tools and compiles them into central national Gateways. In addition, SHAREs builds on existing platforms wherever possible and cooperates with similar initiatives that are being developed right now.

The six national SHAREs Gateways combine the knowledge and tools of existing initiatives with the input of established energy communities and policy makers. A blueprint of the Gateway in English facilitates the creation of national websites and can be adapted to the individual needs of each country. After being tested and improved in at least 20 energy communities in six European countries, the SHAREs Gateway will be  available to all relevant stakeholders across Europe.

SHAREs Website

 

Client	Horizon 2020
Project lead	Angela Holzmann
Project team	Altan Sahin Kerstin Schilcher Herbert Tretter Karina Knaus Martina Krenn
Project partner	Austrian Energy Agency (AEA) OurPower The Black Sea Energy Research Centre (BSERC) Beratungs- und Service-Gesellschaft Umwelt (B.&S.U.) Deutscher Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband (DGRV) WIP Renewable Energies Association of Young Professionals in Energy of Georgia (AYPEG) North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (REGEA) National Society of Conservationists – Friends of the Earth Hungary (MTVSZ) Reflex Environmental Association (REFLEX)
Projekt duration	September 2021 to August 2024