Knowledge and skills required to set up and operate clean energy communities

Abstract

An appropriate set of skills and knowledge is required to establish and operate clean energy communities (ECs). In most cases, building an EC is a team effort and it is very important not to neglect or undervalue the skills of the people involved. This paper identifies the knowledge and skills required to create and operate an EC. To this end, ten case studies of clean energy communities in six European countries are examined. The study concludes that skills can be divided into two categories – technical (hard skills) and non-technical (mainly soft skills). Pre-existing technical skills are necessary but not sufficient to create and operate energy communities. The study also focuses on learning and knowledge management and sharing within and outside communities, with an emphasis on learning by doing.