A talk with CARTIF, project leader of LocalRES

LocalRES “Empowering local renewable energy communities for the decarbonisation of the energy systems” is a European funded project under the HORIZON 2020 Programme. Its main objective is to engage citizens and communities to participate in the energy transition and lead to a structural change towards the decarbonisation of the local energy systems.

We have asked Alberto Belda Gonzàlez from the CARTIF Foundation – coordinator of the project – to tell us more about it.

What is the mission of the project LocalRES?

In the new paradigm that the energy sector is experiencing in Europe, Local Energy Communities have arisen as new key actors with great potential to drive the energy transition. However citizens and communities strongly require support at all stages of the constitution of an energy community; form the learning and planning phases, to the operation phase. In this context, LocalRES project is developing digital tools to support both the co-design of the local energy landscape and the optimal management of local energy systems.

What do we aim to change with this project?

In LocalRES project, we aim to boost the setting up of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) by providing the right tools for the planning and operation phases, and to demonstrate the potential of RECs in the decarbonization of local energy systems in remote communities through four demonstration sites in Austria, Spain, Finland and Italy.