Community energy: A practical guide to reclaiming power

All community energy projects are a journey, often with many twists and turns. We hope this book provided you with ideas and inspiration for your own adventure.

Very powerful and successful projects have grown up from modest beginnings. Dream big to allow your project to grow.

Your community might be nervous at first, but when they see you succeed, they will gain faith in the project. The local community itself will gain pride and self- confidence. People will think, “We are a town with a cool energy project, we are a place where good things happen, this is a village with a future.”

Once a renewable energy project is built, it often becomes much easier to attract other people to invest in the project. To help communities over the first hurdle, a number of countries, regions and municipalities provide direct financial support to energy communities to help them kick-start their project.

The more people feel excited and connected to your project, the more likely they are to support you with their skills, leadership and financial support, allowing your project to grow. You will learn a lot along the way, and gain unexpected connections and skills to push your project forward.

The climate and energy crisis is daunting, but we hope this book has convinced you that you have a real role to play. Getting involved to build a better energy system is something we can all do. This decade is crucial to fight climate change and speed up the energy transition, so if you don’t get involved now, then when? If the movement for energy democracy needs us all, if not you, then who?

Good luck on your journey. You can do this!