Project Description
The COMUNES Project was born with the aim of promoting a model of Solidarity Energy Communities (CES) in Spain, actively integrating people, especially those in situations of vulnerability and exclusion, to reduce energy poverty and promote a more just, inclusive and democratic energy transition.
Energy communities are currently expanding in Spain and Europe as a key tool to move towards a renewable, decentralized and participatory system. However, most do not include vulnerable groups, who are often left out of energy decision-making. Evidence shows that existing initiatives tend to be made up of middle-class men with higher education, while women, young people, migrants and people in energy poverty continue to lack real representation.
COMUNES was born with the conviction that the energy transition will only be fair if all people can participate in it in a meaningful way , especially those who suffer the most from exclusion and injustice.
For this reason, the project focuses on three regions with very different profiles: Catalonia , with a strong cooperative tradition and numerous energy communities; and Extremadura and Galicia , more rural territories where energy communities are just beginning to grow, with diverse socioeconomic and climatic realities.
The central objective of COMUNES is to incorporate a dimension of social justice into energy communities, facilitating the integration of all social groups, generating shared benefits and strengthening territorial and community cohesion.
COMUNES’ actions include communication, awareness-raising and social empowerment activities, as well as proposals to promote regulatory and political changes that favor the extension of CES in Spain and beyond.
The expected impact is multiple: increasing awareness of this innovative model, multiplying opportunities for the development of energy communities with a solidarity approach, and contributing to an energy transition that places equity, inclusion and solidarity at the center.
Documents
Extremadura meeting report
Galicia meeting report
Catalonia meeting report
Summary of evidence for policy
