The Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) are emerging as an innovative solution to promote the use of renewable energy in local communities, reduce carbon emissions and actively involve citizens in the energy transition. Sotacarbo firmly believes in the role of renewable energy communities for an ever-increasing sustainable future. Project Auree (Urban Energy Abacus of Buildings), funded by the National Electrical System Research, entails a series of activities by Sotacarbo to raise awareness and to involve citizens, businesses and local administrations to promote new opportunities to produce and consume energy in a different, beneficial way in the collective interest. 

The municipality of Villanovaforru, with a population of around 550 residents in the province of South Sardinia, has started the process of establishing an energy community in 2021, with the aim of lowering the energy bills of citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises and promoting the use of renewable energy. This community not only promotes local self-consumption, but also aims to raise citizens' awareness of the rational use of energy and to strengthen the territory's social and economic network.  

Currently, Villanovaforru represents, together with Ussaramanna, one of two active energy communities at regional level, representing a virtuous example of how small municipalities can play a key role in the energy transition. The mayor of Villanovaforru, Maurizio Onnis, discussed the municipal administration's path towards the REC. 

The community of Villanovaforru has always been mindful of environmental aspects, and in 2020, when the European directive on energy communities, RED II, was implemented in Italy, the Municipality immediately set about establishing an energy community. Motivations have changed over time: at the beginning, what drove citizens to participate in such a project was mainly economic gain; however, later on, they realised that they could be the protagonists of a useful movement for the ecological transition. From a social point of view, the energy community is a tool for civic education and participatory democracy, it has the power to gather people around a table and push them to address issues such as the environment and energy and make decisions for their community. 

The implementation process was not complicated. We started in November 2020 with the feasibility study, supported by the technical partner Ènostra; we organised two public gatherings and in July 2021 we registered the statute of the association; in October of the same year the photovoltaic panels were installed on the roof of the municipal gymnasium for a total power of 44 kW, eleven months later the community was ready to go. It was at this point that we encountered bureaucratic difficulties and delays not attributable to the Villanovaforru Municipality. In fact, the photovoltaic plant was connected to the grid by Enel Distribuzione almost a year after its installation, and it was not until March 2023 that the Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) registered our community. To date, we are one and a half years into its full operational life. 

The installation of the photovoltaic system was financed with 100.000,00 euro of ministerial funds dedicated to energy efficiency for municipalities under 5000 inhabitants.

Around 40 households and a hotel. This is an excellent result, considering the 40 households represent about 100 residents in a village with a total population of 550. The Municipality, by choice, is not a member of the energy community but is connected to it through an agreement that allows it to participate in and vote at the association’s meetings. Furthermore, due to regulatory constraints, our energy community is tied to a secondary transformer station, and those who were unable to join are waiting for the project to expand so they can participate.

The citizenship immediately welcomed the initiative. Our community has always been mindful of these issues. As early as 2014, we created an environmental committee in favour of the ecological transition and against energy speculation. Currently, the board of the energy community association is made up of three of our citizens, which shows the interest and trust of the population in this project. 

In its first year of operation, our energy community prevented over 20 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the emissions of a car making the 58 km trip between Villanovaforru and Cagliari 2,431 times, or the average amount of CO2 absorbed by 1,127 trees. Moreover, from an environmental point of view, in the first year thanks to our community, emissions of more than 150 g/year of PM10 fine dust particles were avoided. From an economic point of view, we expected a saving of about 20-25% on the electricity bill. In reality, the economic return is an average of 100 €/year per user, because the association, as a legal form, does not allow the money from the sale of energy to be redistributed among the members, but only the money from the incentives related to shared energy within the community. Furthermore, we still cannot maximise the incentives because we do not have total self-consumption of the electricity produced by the solar photovoltaic system. The percentage of self-consumption ranges from 75 to 95 per cent, because most of the residents of the village are not at home during the central and sunniest hours of the day, when peak production occurs.

They are distributed mainly according to consumption. This redistribution will probably be reviewed in order to find a better solution also to counteract energy poverty and especially to benefit larger families who, for work reasons, are not at home in the middle of the day. 

Electricity consumption is controlled remotely, by means of a smart device, called a “smart meter”, which has been installed in users' homes as part of a European Life Loop project of which our Municipality, together with that of Ussaramanna, is the project leader.

The new legislation allows for connection to the primary transformation substation, so we intend to expand the community throughout the village and beyond; in fact, there is a plan to expand the community with the involvement of the municipalities of Ussaramanna and Siddi. We are also considering registering the community as a cooperative, so that the proceeds from the sale of energy can also be redistributed among the members, thus increasing the economic return to the users.

The advice is most definitely to: create the energy community. The establishment process can be frightening but, although long, it is simpler than you might imagine. The number of energy communities must grow to drive the ecological transition.

Activity funded under the Ricerca di Sistema Elettrico Fund PTR 2022-2024.