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This report examines the emergence, operation and prospects of energy communities (ECs) based on a set of European case studies. It analyses ECs as organisational innovations within energy systems that are themselves in transition. There is a particular focus on the business models (BMs) of ECs, as these offer concise summaries of how communities aim to create, deliver and capture value for their members and for others.

Two questions drive the investigation: What makes energy community business models viable? What are energy communities’ prospects for growth? In order to answer these, WP4 of the NEWCOMERS project examined 10 emerging ECs in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom, over a period of two and a half years. Nine were locally based while one was a ‘virtual community’of scattered electricity customers, coordinated by an energy company. Each EC operated in differing regulatory and social contexts and relied to varying degrees on specific technologies, skills and external support.