Day 1: Tuesday, 5 May

Building on Latvia’s strong tradition of mobilised communities, this session explores energy communities as democratic, member-owned structures that strengthen local resilience and energy security. The keynote by Elgars Felcis will set the scene, drawing on experience with off-grid systems, rural innovation, and sustainability research to highlight why trust, social organisation, and shared responsibility are as critical as technology or finance. The discussion will then examine how democratic governance supports mobilisation, long-term commitment, and community-owned resilience across rural Europe.

While the environmental and economic benefits of energy communities are well recognized and easily measurable, the same cannot be said for their social impact. What tools and processes have energy communities developed/are developing in order to assess the social benefits they aspire to generate for members and local communities? This session/workshop aspires to initiate a discussion among energy communities and support organisations on common bottlenecks, emerging challenges and lessons learned.

The session is a collaboration between the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the German Federal Environmental Foundation - DBU.

Do you feel a bit overwhelmed by all the different tools out there to help you? Well, we’ve looked at all the tools and guidebooks for energy communities, and we can help you find your way around them!

In this session, we will “visit” some new and well-established virtual and physical One-Stop-Shops and show you how they are making it easier than ever for citizens, local authorities, and SMEs to develop and work together in energy communities.

In an interactive workshop, participants analyse how they acquire, maintain, or strengthen legitimacy. Following a short plenary introduction to a legitimacy approach for energy communities, participants apply this framework in small groups to their own national contexts. The session combines reflection, peer learning, and a collective discussion of current and desired legitimacy strategies.

Disinformation is a growing concern across Europe, with 51% of Europeans reporting exposure to misleading content online and 63% of young people encountering it more than once a week. It can be particularly dangerous in times of crisis, such as blackouts. This interactive workshop will explore how energy- and climate-related disinformation spreads, what forms it can take, how to spot it, and how to address it. The session will focus on blackout situations, when stress, uncertainty, and a lack of reliable information fuel the spread of misleading stories and false narratives. We will discuss the role that energy communities and civil society organizations – with a special focus on youth - can play before, during, and after blackouts. We will analyze concrete examples and draw on the lived experiences of the audience. Participants will be invited to co-create practical ideas for building trust, ensuring clear communication, and strengthening community resilience during power outages. The session will be facilitated by Kacper Lubiewski (Stocznia Foundation) and Kasia Smętek (Forum Energii) and is supported by HBS Warsaw.

This session will explore how energy communities are installing thermal energy systems across Europe; We will explore different technologies and their benefits such as aquathermal energy, as well as financing schemes, and how national and EU frameworks can become supportive of Community-led Heating and Cooling.

This workshop explores how rural energy communities carry shared responsibility in real-life conditions marked by limited capacity, strong social ties, and long-term risk. Focusing on people and governance, it examines what happens to democratic decision-making, leadership, and accountability when pressure, fatigue, and conflict emerge—and why some rural initiatives endure while others stall. Drawing on practitioner experience and policy perspectives, the discussion links lived community practice to regional, national, and EU-level frameworks, challenging simplified narratives of scaling and success.

This workshop offers a hands-on introduction to the SOCIALNRG Train-the-Trainers programme, inviting participants to step into the role of future multipliers of inclusive energy community practices. Rather than simply presenting the materials, the session will actively explore how SOCIALNRG’s capacity-building tools and practical blueprints can be used, adapted, and transferred to different local contexts—particularly those linking energy communities and social housing. Participants will work with selected elements of the programme, reflect on how they could apply them in their own settings, and discuss what it takes to train others to do the same. As a teaser to the full programme, the session aims to spark ideas, build confidence, and support participants in taking the first steps toward developing their own inclusive energy community initiative.