Review of Energy Communities: Definitions, Regulations, Topologies, and Technologies

Highlights: This paper deals with an overview of energy communities definitions, characterization,architectures and technologies. The energy communities contribute to the decarbonizationof the energy sector and are developing all around Europe to transform existing citiestowards sustainable and smart cities. What are the main findings? Overview of energy communities: definition and characterization. Analysis of technologies and typologies for energy communities. What are the implications of the main findings? Condensed survey of regulations for energy communities. Investigation of centralized and decentralized systems for energy communities. The Clean Energy package recognizes and offers a favorable regulatory framework for citizens and energy communities with renewable energy sources. However, various countries’ national regulations will be highly important for the successful development of energy communities in existing cities and surrounding areas. Energy communities represent a way in which citizens and local authorities can invest in clean energy sources and energy efficiency, with several benefits in addition to the financial ones, like strengthening the concept of community and individual contributions to reductions in the overall carbon footprint. In this paper, an overview of recent developments in financial incentives in energy communities, their organization, and typologies, as well as benefits shared among the participants, is performed. The overview reveals the potential of energy communities in contributing to the economic, energetic, and social development of cities towards sustainable and smart cities.