Regulating energy communities in Europe: from the origins to the EU directives

The concept of energy community in Europe originated in Denmark in the 1970s, then spread to other Northern European countries, and, consequently, since the beginning of the new millennium, across all Europe. The development of energy communities has made it possible to analyze its impact from the social, economic and environmental points of view, as well as their organization and, the incentives and financing exploited by European countries. The push towards energy transition and a system with neutral carbon emissions have contributed to turn citizens into active participants of the energy market. In fact, energy communities were first introduced into the EU legal system through the Clean Energy for all Europeans Package in 2018 allowing for a more consistent clarity of the concept even though at the same time that has left a wide discretion for Member States to translate the concept into national laws. This work evaluates the on-going implementation of the two directives - Directive on common rules of the use of energy from renewable sources and the Directive on common rules for the Internal Electricity Market - within the national legislation of some European countries.