The project
Renewable Energy Communities can become much more than a way to share energy: they can provide new services, mobilise investment, and improve how people, businesses, and local authorities produce and use energy.
This is the vision behind SOSS4EREC – Sustainable One-Stop-Shops for European Renewable Energy Communities, a European project funded under the LIFE Clean Energy Transition programme.
From September 2026 to August 2029, the project will operate across four pilot territories – Abruzzo, Catalonia, Podlipansko, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes – to develop, test, and make new services for Renewable Energy Communities replicable.
Programme: LIFE Clean Energy Transition
Duration: 36 months
Period: September 2026 – August 2029
Total budget: €1.84 million
Pilot territories: Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, and France
Why it matters
Establishing a Renewable Energy Community is only the first step. To generate lasting benefits, a REC must be able to understand local needs, engage its members, and turn shared energy into new opportunities.
Today, many community energy projects still face technical, administrative, financial, and organisational challenges. Moreover, the services available are often fragmented and do not support RECs throughout every stage of their development.
SOSS4EREC aims to bridge this gap by building a stable, accessible, and locally rooted support system capable of helping Renewable Energy Communities evolve from individual projects into genuine local infrastructures for the energy transition.
What the project does
SOSS4EREC will develop and test 34 new services based on the real needs of Renewable Energy Communities and their members.
The activities will cover five main energy areas:
- flexibility and smart energy management
- district heating and cooling
- energy renovation of buildings
- collective photovoltaic self-consumption
- energy storage systems
These will be complemented by cross-cutting services focused on governance, participation, inclusion, and the financial sustainability of RECs.
Across the four pilot territories, the project will:
- Analyse the needs of Renewable Energy Communities
- Select the services best suited to each context
- Engage citizens, businesses, municipalities, and local organisations
- Test the services in real-world settings
- Assess costs, resources, barriers, and conditions for replication
- Gather feedback and lessons learned
- Establish four Communities of Practice to encourage knowledge exchange between territories and practitioners
Expected impact
SOSS4EREC aims to contribute to the development of a European support model for Renewable Energy Communities, capable of continuing to operate and generate value beyond the project’s lifetime.
The project aims to:
- reach at least 160 Renewable Energy Communities
- support 8 additional local structures through a mentoring programme
- contribute to a European network of 50 one-stop shops dedicated to RECs
- make energy services more accessible and replicable
- strengthen local technical and organisational expertise
- encourage new investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency
- increase the participation of citizens, businesses, and local authorities
- integrate energy, economic, environmental, and social benefits
The expected outcome is not simply a new catalogue of services, but an operational model that helps RECs grow, adapt, and respond to the evolving needs of their communities.
Newton’s role
Newton is responsible for the activities planned in the Abruzzo pilot territory.
We will work directly with Renewable Energy Communities and local stakeholders to identify the territory’s needs, select the most relevant services, and assess their effectiveness through real-world testing.
In particular, Newton will:
- engage the pilot RECs and stakeholders in Abruzzo
- coordinate the selection and testing of services across all pilot regions
- organise workshops, focus groups, and co-design sessions in Abruzzo
- collect and analyse participants’ feedback
- develop a replicable and financially sustainable One-Stop-Shop model
- contribute to establishing the regional Community of Practice
- share the results and lessons learned in Abruzzo with the consortium
The territory will involve two pilot Renewable Energy Communities. The project will consider 10 technical services, mainly related to photovoltaics and energy renovation, as well as 2 non-technical services focused on social, organisational, and governance aspects.
The results of the Abruzzo experience will be compared with those of the other pilot territories, contributing to the development of solutions that can be adapted and replicated in different contexts.
For Newton, SOSS4EREC represents a strategic step forward: building on the experience gained through Renewable Energy Communities to develop a broader system of services supporting the local energy transition.
The consortium
SOSS4EREC brings together organisations with complementary expertise in energy, Renewable Energy Communities, building renovation, finance, participation, and local development:
- Ambiente Italia – Italy, coordinator
- Newton Società Cooperativa – Italy
- Osona Energia – Spain
- Fundació Europace – Spain
- IREC-CERCA – Spain
- Enerkom Podlipansko – Czech Republic
- ÖGUT – Austria
- GoParity – Portugal
- AURA-EE – France
- ALEC 07 – France, affiliated entity
- ALEC 42 – France, affiliated entity
- FEDARENE – Belgium
- REScoop Vlaanderen – Belgium
Disclaimer
SOSS4EREC is co-funded by the European Union under the LIFE Clean Energy Transition programme, Grant Agreement No. 101294871.
Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.