Greece is a gifted country when it comes to renewables and it was the first EU country to have a law on energy communities all the way back in 2018. In its national energy and climate plan, the Greek government has set a target of in self-consumption by 2030. We wanted to know how this translates into concrete action on the ground and did a virtual travel to Ilioupoli. Ilioupoli is a sub-urban municipality in the Athens area. It counts 80.000 residents. 

For this episode we met two of them: Thanos Katsonis works for the local government of Ilioupoli, and Chris Vrettos is driving force of the social cooperative Electra Energy. They are just about to kick-start a community power organisation. How will they work collaboratively to increase the number of prosumers in Greece and – who knows – to bring other good things to the local community? Thanos and Chris tell us how they push for a citizen energy culture and the steps necessary to achieve this.

This episode and the collaboration lab were made possible thanks to funding from the European Climate Foundation (ECF). The ECF is an international non-profit and its great team promotes climate and energy policies in Europe. In 2019, the European Climate Foundation launched its Energy Democracy program. It focuses on the support of community energy projects both at the EU and national levels. europeanclimate.org

ECF collaboration lab episode: Community power through virtual net metering in Athens area

This episode is with Carlo Tacconelli. Carlo is an international energy expert and CEO of EnGreen, anItalian renewables start-up. Carlo has 16 years of experience in distributed renewable energy systems in Europe and in developing countries. Carlo shares some of that experience in this episode, with a special focus on the incredible power of energy communities.
We left our conversation with much optimism as Carlo talks about all the positive side effects energy communities can bring. We particularly enjoyed listening to him when he talked about the potential of a rural revival. As shared renewable energy is becoming more popular in villages and is creating jobs, we might be able to reverse the trend of rural communities hollowing out. Some people may decide to return to a rural, more self-sustaining life. Here is our conversation with a fantastic glimmer of hope!

This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. www.sccale203050.eu

SCCALE interview with Carlo Tacconelli from EnGreen

In this episode we speak to Sanjay Patnaik, Director of the Center on Regulation and Markets (CRM), Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development, and Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings. We discuss the impact of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, opportunities for joint climate action between the U.S. and the EU, and the impact of climate policy on firm behaviour.
The interview was led by Marie Raude and Lea Heinrich, Research Associates at the Climate Team of the Florence School of Regulation.

Ep 5 |  The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and European carbon pricing with Sanjay Patnaik

The second instalment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ with Ellen Beckstedde and Emma Menegatti is a detailed discussion on the energy crisis of 2021/2022. Regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by electricity market experts Ellen Beckstedde and Emma Menegatti, both Research Associates at the Florence School of Regulation. 
The conversation covers the context and conditions that created the energy crisis in the first place, the various policy responses at EU and Member State level, as well as the proposed changes to the electricity market design aimed at safeguarding against future crises. Emma and Ellen also answer some listener questions and reflect on a few key outstanding issues for the electricity sector going forward.
For more info on FSR's views on policy interventions during the energy crisis, see the links below 
https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75089
https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75580

Episode 2 | Was the energy crisis the key to completing EU electricity market integration?

Please contact Office at publicbankinginstitute.org for the chat transcript.

240308 Coalition Call

The third instalment of the ‘FSR Policy Briefcase’ explores European industrial policy following the energy crisis of 2021/22, specifically the role of clean hydrogen in the protection and continuation of existing energy-intensive industrial sectors as well as in generating new, clean industrial growth. For this episode, regular hosts Leonardo Meeus and James Kneebone are joined by Ilaria Conti of FSR and Jan Cornillie of the EUI's School of Transnational Governance (STG). The conversation builds on the recent publication of a Policy Brief on this subject, written by Jan, James, Ilaria, and Jos Delbeke. 

In a wide-reaching episode, the group discuss the state of play with the hydrogen sector in 2024, including the economic conditions, project-level progress, regulatory status, and the importance of capturing the intersectional and nuanced 'value' of clean hydrogen as not only a clean energy vector but also a vector for industrial transformation. 

See below for a link to the original Policy Brief 
https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/76564

Episode 3 | How can clean hydrogen contribute to European industrial decarbonisation?

Please contact Office at PublicBankingInstitute.org for Chat Transcript.

240412Coalition Call

We all try to make green choices for a more sustainable world. And so do local authorities as public buyers. Through public procurement authorities buy work, goods or services. Green public procurement means those authorities use their purchasing power to support the clean energy transition. 
In this episode of City Stories, Efren Guillò Sansano who is the Head of Innovation at the Spanish cooperative Grupo Enercoop explains how bidding processes can pave the way for energy communities.  In our conversation, Efren takes the example of Crevillent, a Spanish municipality close to Alicante. A few years ago, the Crevillent City Council created a concession procedure for rooftop solar on municipal buildings and they added special community criteria. One of them was that 80% of the electricity produced on municipal roofs should be shared with local citizens.  
Learn more in my conversation with Efren. Let’s go and let’s dive into the wonderful world of tendering contracts, technical specifications and award criteria.

This episode was produced with support from SCCALE 20-30-50. www.sccale203050.eu

SCCALE episode on public procurement for energy communities

Welcome to City Stories, the podcast by Energy Cities. Energy Cities is the European city network of local authorities in energy transition with over 1000 members from 30 countries. This podcast is for those who want to learn more about how cities go about with the energy transition. The challenge is big, but there are so many new, collaborative practices that emerge and that make this challenge fun and feasible. Each month we invite passionate European guests from different horizons and sectors who dedicate much of their time to making the energy transition more democratic. Each conversation brings out a city’s story as well as very personal opinions and motivations. The podcast is moderated by Miriam Eisermann. It is available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts

ECF collaboration lab episode: Community power through virtual net metering in Athens area

City stories: The podcast by Energy Cities

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