What makes people decide to produce and share energy together? Technology and financial savings matter, but they are only part of the answer. Building an energy community also requires trust, time, and a reason for people to act together.

These questions were at the center of the StartSun final conference’s panel discussion “Challenges and solutions for stronger collaboration”, where Xavier Simón from the University of Vigo, Kirils Gončarovs from Tartu Regional Energy Agency and Uppsala University, and Maie Kiisel from the University of Tartu discussed what helps energy communities take shape in practice and what can prevent them from moving forward.

Throughout the discussion, one message kept returning: an energy community is not created simply by installing solar panels or designing a financially attractive model. Before people can share energy, they need to see why cooperation makes sense and feel that they can rely on the people and institutions involved.

As part of the StartSun –  Start-ups for Solar Energy Communities – project some interesting results are released and now available for public. One of them is the article Besides technology, energy communities need trust, time and a reason to act. You can continue reading the article at BSR StartSun interreg-website here.