Encouraging local energy communities in island and rural areas
What is the ETU initiative?
The Interreg Med Renewable
Energy Community Project is a
transnational cooperation project
that proposes and launches the
ETU (Ecosystemic Transition Units)
initiative as a capitalisation strategy
for transferring the outcomes from
Interreg MED Projects dedicated
to renewable energies and also for
promoting an energy transition
model based on a holistic approach
to the territorial, economic and
social needs of rural areas. The
MED Renewable Energy Community
consists more than 110 institutions
within 57 regions in 10 EU Member
states and 3 neighboring countries, all
located in the MED territory.
The ETU initiative aims to encourage
local authorities and civil society
to use the ETU toolbox and ETU
model in their energy transition
plans. The ETU toolbox gathers the
main technical outcomes and tools
developed from the MED Renewable
Energy Community and is open to
gather other tools that complement
the support to energy planning, the
creation of energy communities,
energy policies and smart solutions
for energy facilities.
The ETU model offers a roadmap
for rural areas addressing 5 main
concerns:
- apply an ecological
approach to climate emergency;
- promote a territorial equity
between the urban and the rural,
- boost social innovation through
technology and warranty clean energy
for vulnerable groups,
- encourage
the green economy by attracting
green businesses into local energy
communities, and
- advocate for
the cooperation & commitment
between key actors and key policy
frameworks.
The contribution of Interreg Med
Renewable Energy Community
Project will be the integration of
energy transition strategies from
a holistic perspective that allows
guiding decision-making to enhance a
better territorial, social and economic
development of the territories.
The Interreg Med Renewable Energy
Projects’ main targets are the island
and rural areas of the Mediterranean
Regions, precisely because of their
high vulnerability to climate change,
and the emergency actions that small
villages/island should take with the
scarcity of resources.
The main contribution of the project
to increasing local RES production
and consumption in island and
rural areas will be to support the
application and use of ETU toolbox
and ETU model in energy planning,
through sectoral plans; energy
communities through citizens’
awareness of energy transition;
energy governance through the
implementation of green fiscal
policies; and energy facilities through
the design and implementation of
microgrids, storage systems, PV Solar,
etc.
Energy transition can be a catalyst
of revitalization into a greener and
more resilient pathway. The project
wants to highlight the gaps and
opportunities that exist, in order to
focus efforts into bringing solutions
for rural needs.
How to support the ETU initiative?
The project calls on local authorities
to join the ETU initiative in order to
integrate its toolbox and model into
their energy transition plans. We are
looking into small villages and rural
areas located either inland or on
islands in the Mediterranean region.
We invite you to support the ETU
initiative by signing our Manifesto
and to contact us in case you
are interested in receiving further
information about our activities.
More information: https://renewable-energies.interreg-med.eu