Promoting Engagement and Inclusion: A Case Study on an Energy Community in Cagliari, Italy

Abstract

In Italy, Energy Communities struggle to spread as they should, very few are active. Such communities can assume a central role in the development of sustainable energy systems because they are able to include and involve many people and have the potential to provide answers to problems of social and economic inequality and the energy crisis. A major problem identified is that traditional governance tools for establishing Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) often prioritize the technical aspect rather than encouraging active stakeholder involvement. The overall goal of this study is to improve the environmental impact of individuals and the community by proposing a method, engagement projects and activities, and operational planning tools to support policy-making processes to build conditions in which participation in the energy system can trigger virtuous behaviour, developing a certain amount of self-sufficiency in terms of management. We will argue that this method of engagement influences the extent to which parties can or cannot engage in the whole framework of collective management of Energy Communities. To exemplify this approach, we present an experience still in progress in establishing the first Solar Energy Community in the city of Cagliari, to demonstrate how the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in renewable energy projects can help produce a spatial, social, cultural and economic context that can adapt to changing circumstances, capacity demands, technological innovations, demographic, economic and social trends. Such actions will be useful for the development of programmatic, participatory and democratic strategic planning in which the lines of development and management of an energy community are gathered.