The frame of reference
The European Commission has set guidelines for Member States on energy communities and self-consumption of renewable energy. The reference directives are (EU) 2018/2001 on the promotion of renewable sources and (EU) 2019/944 on the internal electricity market, integrated by Directive (EU) 2024/1711 which amended both. The recommendation is part of the broader “Energy and Citizens Package” (COM(2026) 115), which sets the objective of bringing the renewable capacity installed by energy communities at European level to 90 GW.
Authorization simplification first
The point of greatest operational interest concerns the simplification of authorization procedures. The recommendation calls on Member States to completely eliminate licensing procedures for small-scale solar photovoltaic production and storage facilities, and to remove administrative requirements and regulatory barriers for plug-in batteries and balcony solar panels up to 800W.
For larger plants, the document calls for transparent, proportionate grid connection procedures with specific deadlines within which the grid manager is required to inform the end customer or the energy community. Where network capacity is insufficient, it is recommended to allow flexible connection arrangements for entities operating storage systems or achieving high levels of local self-consumption, in line with Article 6a of Directive (EU) 2019/944.
The news on the design level
For technical professionals working in the design of renewable systems or in assisting the establishment of energy communities, these directions are relevant on two distinct levels. On a project level, a reduction in authorization costs for small-scale systems directly affects the time and costs of investigations. In terms of technical consultancy to CERs, the provision of certain deadlines for connections and the possibility of flexible agreements with network managers changes the conditions of technical and economic feasibility of projects, in particular for communities with variable production and consumption profiles.
The recommendation also calls for network operators to take into account the expected growth of self-consumption and energy community operations in network development plans, in order to enable ex ante investments. This point has direct repercussions on the planning of connection infrastructures and on the extent of the costs that currently weigh on CERs in the connection phase.
Digital procedures and one-stop shop
On the administrative side, the recommendation calls for establishing simple, transparent and digital registration processes for energy sharing agreements. When the number of participants exceeds a certain threshold, formal designation of the initiative as “internal energy sharing” is recommended, with the aim of streamlining reporting and registration obligations.
Of particular interest for professionals who assist clients in the preliminary phases is the provision of a one-stop shop – online and, where possible, physical – for technical, legal, administrative, economic and financial consultancy, submission of applications and monitoring of the status of cases.
It is a single interface designed to reduce the procedural fragmentation that today characterizes access to incentive schemes and connection procedures, often distributed between different subjects – GSEs, network managers, local authorities – with processes that are not always coordinated.
The Italian context and upcoming developments
For Italy, the framework for transposing the reference directives is defined by Legislative Decree 199/2021 and by the decree of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security of March 2023, which established the operating rules for renewable energy communities and collective self-consumption. The Commission’s recommendation now constitutes the parameter against which to evaluate the adequacy of this regulatory framework and any corrective measures that the national legislator could be called upon to adopt, in particular on the issues of authorization simplification and reduction of administrative burdens for small CERs.
The action plan attached to the recommendation includes a series of measures scheduled for the two-year period 2026-2027, including the publication of a package of financial instruments for energy communities, the refinancing of the European instrument for support for the pre-development phase and the disbursement of 12 million euros under Horizon Europe for the development of local sharing optimization algorithms based on artificial intelligence.
On a contractual level, the publication of a standardized model contract for cooperation between renewable project developers and energy communities is expected by 2027, a tool that could significantly simplify the legal structuring of these agreements in professional practice.
Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter.
