Actions, knowledge-sharing and best practices – LocalRES’ contributions to the BRIDGE initiative

Having entered its second year, LocalRES is now proud to present its contribution to the BRIDGE initiative

Working Group Regulation

Our focus for the past few months has been the Working Group Regulation; LocalRES (represented by DOWEL Innovation) had the pleasure to chair Action 2: Service Provision by Energy Communities.

Having coordinated the recollection of inputs from around 30 EU-funded projects through online surveys and interactive sessions, these results were first communicated during the BRIDGE General Assembly on the 29th of March 2023, now presented in the WG Regulation 2023 report; to be released later this year.

The Lessons learnt from regulatory barriers for Energy Communities were presented in February 2023 during one of the knowledge-sharing sessions organised by the WG Regulation. Each demo site outlined regulatory and legal hurdles (and ways to overcome them), looking to share best practices with other projects.

These were some of our conclusions:

On regulation:

– Follow closely the evolution of national regulations, frameworks and procedures related to Energy Services and to the provision of grid services

– To ensure support, include local DSO in the consortium

– Request regulatory sandboxes where relevant

On technical and financial aspects

– Define (realistic) digitalisation requirements for legacy equipment in advance (at the proposal stage if possible) and ensure it will be covered by budget

On public acceptance:

– Develop a clear engagement strategy

– Emphasise non-financial benefits

– Lead by example and get local heroes on board

Other Working Groups

Partners RINA and Energy Cities took part in the WG Business Models, Citizens and Consumer Engagement and Data Management, to which we provided survey input.

BRIDGE General Assembly

LocalRES, represented by DOWEL Innovation, was pleased to participate in person in the GA from the 28th to the of 29th March. It was a very intense, content packed meeting. The GA provided multiple opportunities to meet other EU funded projects, share lessons learnt and learn about new projects on Energy Communities.