The Symposium on Community Energy is a forum to discuss the mainstreaming of community energy as a key element of low carbon energy transitions. In a lively exchange between scientists, researchers, gras roots activists, politicians, NGOs and entrepreneurs we aim to build a coherent and replicable framework, which enables also relatively deprived areas and social groups to catch up with and benefit from the transition to renewable energy and energy efficiency.
All sides shall profit from learning about tools of financing, state and municipal support, and the sector coupling of energy production, efficency and low carbon transport.

Contact:

Dr. Conrad Kunze, project coordinator
Free University Berlin
Environmental Policy Research Centre at Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science
Lecturer and Researcher in Renewable Energy Transitions and Political Ecology
Telephone: +49 30 838 56689
Email: co.kunze@fu-berlin.de
https://www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/en/polwiss/forschung/systeme/ffu/team/mitarbeiter/kunze_conrad/index.html

What happened so far:

First meeting in April 2021:

An initial dialogue between researchers focused on the available community energy schemes and renewable energy efficiency measures in Germany, Sweden, UK and USA.

Reach-out conference in July 2021:

An exchange with politicians, entrepreneurs and NGOs in the field of community energy systems took place.

Follow-up conference of the research team in October 2021:

The groundwork has been laid for building a coherent framework for analyzing effective citizen collaboration and community engagement for the energy system change.

The symposium is funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina.