Demonstration of stationary fuel cells in renewable energy communities

Energy communities enable collective and citizen-driven energy actions to support the clean energy transition. They can contribute to increasing public acceptance of renewable energy projects and make it easier to attract private investments in the clean energy transition. Energy communities can be an effective means of re-structuring our energy systems, by empowering citizens to drive the energy transition locally and directly benefit from better energy efficiency, lower bills, reduced energy poverty and more local green job opportunities. Through the ‘Clean energy for all Europeans’ package, adopted in 2019, the EU differentiated between citizen energy communities and renewable energy communities. Since then, legislation on energy communities has been further strengthened by new or revised EU rules. Renewable energy communities, can introduce positive environmental impacts by increasing the use of renewable energy, thereby enhancing local energy security and reducing energy import from the main power grid, lowering energy bills. This aggregation therefore increases collective advantages and furthermore benefits the local distribution grid thanks to sharing resources and to a more efficient energy distribution, respectively. Energy communities are also key in bearing the adoption of new energy technologies and practices, thus paving the way toward innovation in the energy landscape.

• Support the industrialisation of European Fuel Cell technology;

• Showcase combined heat and power generation based on hydrogen technologies in real life applications;

• Decentralised control of microgrids supported by real-time optimisation, which increases grid reliability and resilience, and allows for autonomous operation during disturbances;

• Contribute to demand-side strategies, which can reduce energy bills and provide overall benefits to the energy system such as stability and less emissions;

• Provide ancillary services to the overall energy system such as frequency control and power reliability;

• Empower citizens and put them at the centre of the clean energy transition, which improves lives and supports energy and climate policies.