Green Net Finland, together with the Council of Tampere Region have organized two interactive information exchange webinars between energy community projects in 2026. The Council of Tampere Region began organizing the cooperation in 2025, when the first information exchange webinar was held. The projects have promoted the message of energy communities by producing concrete information, instructions and pilot experiments on establishment and operation. Webinars have come at just the right time: many of the energy community projects have been in the final stages, and therefore interesting information has been shared about the results and lessons learned from the projects.
The first webinar on January 29, 2026 was attended by 35 people, and the second webinar on April 10, 2026 was attended by 22 people. A total of 7 different projects presented the results of their work. In addition, all participants were able to briefly present the types of energy community projects they are working on, potential collaboration opportunities were identified, and comments and questions were exchanged between presentations. This article highlights some of the presented projects.
STARTSUN – Start-ups for Solar Energy Communities
The final Finnish publication of the StartSun project, the Start-up Package – from establishment to management of a solar energy community, was presented in both webinars. In addition to providing an overview, the presentation aimed to highlight a few important key points: methods of distributing solar electricity surplus, technical and legislative aspects in energy communities, and feasibility calculations for the entire solar power plant and the battery energy storage system in a hypothetical pilot.
A draft version of the publication was presented in the first webinar. Valuable feedback and comments were received for the development of the package, which were able to be utilized in the development of the final publication. The final version was edited to reflect the story of the establishment of an energy community in the terraced house in Marttila’s hypothetical pilot.
Thanks to all partners who participated in the development of the Start-up Package!
The publication is freely available on the Green Net Finland website (Finnish only). The publication includes information on the development of the feasibility calculator in the StartSun project.
Funding: Co-financed by the European Union’s Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme
Contact person: Riikka Ojala, Green Net Finland, riikka.ojala(at)gnf.fi
Project website: https://gnf.fi/fi/gnf/startsun-start-ups-for-solar-energy-communities/
REC4EU – Renewable Energy Communities for EU regions
The REC4EU project presented a SWOT analysis of Energy Communities: technical analysis, social aspects, economic aspects, and regulatory framework.
A key message that emerged from the presentation was that Finland is a pioneer in electricity metering, control, smart solutions, grid automation, and real-time monitoring. The weaknesses are incomplete legislation, the economic unprofitability of distributed energy communities, and low awareness of energy communities. The opportunity is the improvement of security supply thanks to distributed and self-sufficient energy production, and the potential threat is regional inequality, which stems from e.g. differences in DSO pricing between operating areas.
Funding: Co-financed by the European Union’s Interreg Europe program
Contact person: Tiina Luukkonen, the Council of Tampere Region, tiina.luukkonen(at)pirkanmaa.fi
Project website: https://www.interregeurope.eu/rec4eu
AURI2027 – New EPBD-compliant solar energy and energy flexibility solutions for public buildings
The AURI2027 project presented measures at a general level in a webinar. The project focuses on promoting the use of solar energy and energy flexibility solutions in public buildings. The main objective of the project is to support municipalities and other public property owners in achieving their carbon neutrality targets and the requirements of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
Funding: European Regional Development Fund
Contact person: Teemu Meriläinen, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, teemu.merilainen2(at)metropolia.fi
Project website: https://auri2027.fi/fi/
HOKE – Carbon neutral, fair and sustainable energy communities in South Ostrobothnia
The HOKE project focuses on rural energy communities and the webinar presented the latest findings of the project. The main message was that the potential for renewable energy in rural areas is high and rural energy communities are beneficial for the energy transition and for local communities themselves. The challenges are the current regulations that make decentralized energy communities unprofitable, as well as the challenges related to financing investments.
Funding: JTF, Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia
Contact person: Kirsi Spoof-Tuomi, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, kirsi.spoof-tuomi(at)seamk.fi
Project website: https://projektit.seamk.fi/kestavat-ruokaratkaisut/hoke/
COPOWER – Community-based Virtual Power Plant (cVPP)
CoPower’s presentation included the journey of the virtual power plant developed for the biogas plant on Wennström’s farm.A virtual power plant refers to a decentralized energy system centered around a control system that coordinates the interaction of various technologies. An example of a virtual power plant is a system that combines several smaller power generation units, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and consumption points.
A virtual power plant is a technically viable and economically viable solution, in which participation is best achieved through aggregators and third parties, but data security and regulation must be taken seriously. One of the key messages of the presentation was that Finland is a pioneer in many aspects of the electricity sector, such as spot prices and remote metering.
Funding: Co-funded by the European Union’s Northern Periphery and Arctic programme
Contact person: Fabian Sander, Centria University of Applied Sciences, fabian.sander(at)centria.fi.
Project website: https://www.interreg-npa.eu/projects/copower/home/
The collaboration continues
The cooperation between the Finnish Energy Community projects will continue in autumn 2026, when the next information exchange webinar will be organized. If you are interested in presenting your own energy community project or attending the event, please contact Riikka Ojala (riikka.ojala(at)gnf.fi).
The blog is part of the StartSun project.
Authors: Evilina Vinonen & Riikka Ojala
Project partners: County Administrative Board of Östergötland LP (SE) Lead Partner, Society ”Zemgale Regional Energy Agency” (ZREA) (LV), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EE), Uppsala University (SE), Green Net Finland (FIN), Society ”Green Liberty” (LV), Tartu Regional Energy Agency (EE), Åtvidaberg municipality (SE), Jelgava City municipal institution ”Central Administration” (LV), Jekabpils County Council (LV), University of Tartu (EE), Co-operative Seto Aiad (EE), Kalevipoja Koda Foundation (EE)
Funding: Co-financed by the European Union Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme. Total budget approx. 3.2 M€, of which GNF’s share 240 000 €
Project period: 11/2023 – 10/2026