Citizen participation in energy communities: legal entities as an organizational form for the sustainable production and consumption of energy and gender equality

• Autores: Melary Santana, Koldobika Martín Escudero, Jon Terés Zubiaga
• Localización: EESAP15 International Conference 2024, 22-23 October Donostia-San Sebastián: Proceedings book, 2025, ISBN 978-84-9082-982-0, págs. 82-99
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro
• Resumen

  • Currently in the European context the energy sector is going through a transition process towards a more sustainable and participatory model. The Energy Communities (EC) are a vitally important instrument that guarantees citizen participation in the energy system and its democratization through the grouping of its members under a legal entity that is based on open and voluntary participation aiming to produce and consume energy from renewable sources. In the Spanish context, despite the great environmental, economic and social benefits that the EC brings to its members and to the environment, the European Directives that advocate for the EC have not yet been completely transferred in the legal framework, since the Electricity Sector Law, the Draft royal decree on REC and CEC among others, briefly mention the concept of EC and its economic, social and technical aspects.

    This article aims to answer whether the current legal framework regarding EC influences the selection of legal entities to create one and how the gender equality is taken into account among its members in Spain. After analyzing the legal framework and the statistics related to EC, on one hand the results show a legal vacuum that leaves a wide range of options for those interested in creating an EC since it is not mandatory to use a specific legal entity. The cooperative and association figures are the most popular due to their easy administrative procedures and their open and voluntary participation governance model. On the other hand, despite the characterization of the ECs as open and voluntary entities, the statistics do not point to a parity of men and women within their members in most ECs and women are underrepresented in the energy field (work and academic levels), even if women are more likely to suffer the impacts of energy poverty and climate change. It is necessary to reinforce energy transition and EC policies based on clearer normative with gender perspective