On May 18th Henner Busch represented the Co2mmunity project at an online panel discussion organised by the DECIDE General Assembly. Topic of interests were barriers and regulatory issues to community energy across EU Member States.
Henner talked about the differences across the Baltic Sea Region regarding community energy. For example, implementing CE projects remains difficult in countries with a soviet history. This is due to the centralised and large-scale energy production systems, as well as negative connotations to collective organisations. Here regulations will not address the hesitation of citizens to get involved in energy projects, but time and best-practice projects are more likely to result in a cultural shift in that respect.
Henner emphasized that besides a good regulatory framework, independent intermediaries have a reinforcing effect due to knowledge transfer and targeted support that make establishing new projects easier for citizens. #balticsearegion