Strengthening the role of municipalities in the community energy initiatives in Serbia - STRONG

Project: STRengthening the rOle of municipalities in the community eNerGy initiatives in Serbia - STRONG

Duration: December 2024 – October 2025 (10 months)

Donor: European Climate Foundation - ECF

Context and current state of the affairs of Community Energy in Serbia

Energy communities are representing citizen-driven energy actions that can enable clean energy transition, contribute to increasing public acceptance of renewable energy projects and make it easier to attract private investments in the clean energy transition.

Currently in Serbia, the lack of energy communities inhibits robust citizen participation and perpetuates unjust treatment within the energy transition process. The Serbian legal framework recognized the institute of Renewable Energy Communities in 2021 by adopting the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources. However, the procedures of their establishing through secondary legislation have not been developed yet, and not a single community has been founded following provisions from the Law. There is not sufficient support for establishing energy communities around prosumer and energy-sharing models despite the recent promising increase in photovoltaic (PV) installations throughout Serbia.

The new Amendment Law on Energy, recently adopted provides the legal basis for the establishment of Citizen’s Energy Communities in Serbia. It is expected that this Law will motivate prosumers to use other opportunities and set up the basis for the implementation of more community energy projects and initiatives.

There are several cross-cutting barriers to setting up an energy community that are identified:

·   Legal uncertainty reflected by undefined rules of governance and participation principles (e.g. proximity, effective control, autonomy, and social, economic, and environmental benefits);

·   Lack of awareness among representatives of local authorities and their citizens, businesses, and researchers around energy communities, and consequently lack of understanding and trust;

·   Lack of technical expertise in project development or navigation of administrative and licensing procedures;

·   Limited access to financing projects (particularly for early stages of project development);

·   Limitations in financing and using benefits for energy-poor and vulnerable households.

Successful citizen energy projects require active involvement and joint efforts of both local actors (municipalities, public institutions) and citizens (community leaders, energy communities, and cooperatives) and tailor-based models that are suitable and fit the local conditions in Serbia. At this point, Serbia lacks models and showcases, and the Local Self Governments (LSGs) do not recognize the importance of their role, nor do they perceive how they can support or accelerate community energy initiatives. Both citizens and local authorities lack awareness and knowledge of how to participate in community energy projects.

Grant objectives and accomplishments

The Project: STRengthening the rOle of municipalities in the community eNerGy initiatives in Serbia - STRONG community energy in Serbia will strive to mobilize local potential for the development and implementation of community energy project(s), like solar installations, renovation of buildings, heat and electricity production, etc; through the building of capacities of local authorities in Serbia. Moreover, this initiative will identify the most eager and ready municipalities, to work with local community leaders and “champions of changes” and enhance their capacity to proactively participate and mainstream community energy initiatives within their municipalities.

The key Project outcome is designed to fill in the crucial gap in Serbia: the lack of appropriate/suitable models for the implementation of community energy project(s).

It is foreseen that the STRONG Project will provide support for the establishment or operations of local energy communities or community energy initiatives within at least 3 municipalities in Serbia aimed to serve further as a showcase for the development of a model (with legal, institutional, technical, social aspects) for the acceleration of the community energy in Serbia. 

Project activities

A1.  Selection of at least 3 pilot municipalities for the development and implementation of the community energy project based on the previously defined criteria (interests, needs, capacities, existing citizens initiatives and energy projects, the potential for financing, replicability and demonstration potential, etc). PET team has been working closely with many Serbian municipalities for more than 15 years which puts them in the position to know very well what their achievements and involvement in community energy initiatives are. Communication with municipalities is very active even today, which is why PET is in the perfect position to easily go through the selection process.

A2.  Perform assessment within the selected municipalities aimed to identify the potential of existing institutions, to map and connect with local “champions of changes” or initiatives, to examine interest (needs) to participate in the community energy projects, to elaborate on a strategic and regulatory framework for the community energy, etc. The assessment should also include basic preferences regarding the type, size, duration (soft, technical) as well as the feasibility of the potential community energy project ideas.

A3.  Development of models for implementation of community energy project(s) - PET will, based on the specific needs and potential within the selected municipality, provide mentorship and expert advice to the municipal representatives to initiate and support the establishment or operations of the energy community. PET will facilitate coordination among local entities and provide tailor-based mentorship to the local administration to develop mechanisms and instruments to support individual or group community “champions”. This process will be aligned with the specific needs of each of the selected municipalities and will include, but not be limited to joining discussions and brainstorming on the best potential solution, bilateral consultations, provision of technical expertise, access to training/seminars/educative content regarding energy communities, connection with other municipalities/energy communities in Serbia and region to enable exchange of experience and good practices, etc. In this way, PET will also strengthen the role of LSG in the community energy projects/initiatives and accelerate local energy transition. Besides the direct mentoring process, it is also foreseen that at least one thematic Workshop (A3.1) with the representatives of the selected municipalities will be conducted to ensure discussion on progress, exchange of experience, and improvement of knowledge among municipal and potential community leaders.

A4.  Develop a Guidebook for local/municipal authorities on how municipal and local authorities can support community energy initiatives/how local authorities can encourage citizen participation in energy transitions. The Guidebook should incorporate a set of policy recommendations for mainstreaming the community energy initiatives within the local policy and strategic framework based on the conducted assessment, peer review, and developed models and experience gained through work with municipalities.

PET will directly inform, through its network, other municipalities in Serbia on possible models and experiences gained through the Project and, if necessary, organize an info event (online) to ensure that lessons learned through the Project are shared with relevant municipal representatives.

PET has strong, cooperative relationships with many Local Self-Governments; therefore, the Project results will be disseminated in both direct bilateral communication with LSGs and through other networking events jointly attended (conferences, workshops, roundtables). Besides the Guidebook that will primarily target policy developers and representatives of other LSGs, PET will also, in close cooperation with ECF, design and develop tailor-specific comms products (tailored for the different wider stakeholder groups including media, CSOs, the international community, etc). These products will disseminate lessons learned through pilot projects aiming to promote, motivate, and inform the wider public on the benefits and possibilities offered through the implementation of community energy initiatives and the advantages of energy communities.