LIFE-CET Energy Communities Contractos’s Meeting 2026

Energy communities in European dialogue – Insights from Brussels with IREES

Energy communities are clearly gaining momentum across Europe, and our colleague Antonia Kranz was right at the heart of the action at the LIFE-CET Energy Communities Contractors’ Meeting 2026 in Brussels (24–25 March).
Organised under the auspices of CINEA – the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency – the event focused entirely on the growing importance of energy communities for the European energy transition and their practical implementation.
The meeting brought together EU projects, public sector stakeholders and partners from across Europe to exchange experiences, learn from one another and discuss shared challenges. Our ESCALATE project was also presented at the event.

Below, we would like to highlight some key insights from the discussions and presentations:

⚡ Energy communities are gaining in importance
Energy communities are increasingly evolving from individual pilot projects into broader approaches. Against the backdrop of municipal heat planning and decentralised supply solutions, they are gaining importance as a concrete building block for the local energy transition.

🏛️ Local authorities as key enablers
Many contributions have shown that local authorities can play a key role in initiating and embedding energy communities. This is because they can create the necessary framework conditions and help to integrate projects strategically into local planning processes.

💶 Focus on financing and business models
The development of viable financing and business models remains a key prerequisite for making energy communities scalable and sustainable in the long term.

The discussion has shown that the implementation of the energy transition at local level depends above all on effective support services, suitable financing approaches and the clear involvement of the relevant stakeholders.

IREES – Research for Future 🌍🌃