Energy communities: economic, social and technological implications in the European framework.

Fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, have a huge negative impact on the environment, the climate, and human health. Energy communities emerge as a solution to the threat of climate change by contributing to the expansion of renewable energy technologies. Even though these entities have existed for some time, they have only been officially recognized by the EU in 2019 thanks to the Clean Energy Package. By acquiring rights and duties, they have the potential to reduce countries dependency on fossil fuels by producing and distributing clean energy. However, research on energy communities is scattered and sometimes contradictory, while real case scenarios are scarce in number or not well documented. The thesis aims to fill the gap by describing energy communities holistically, analysing all the most important trends regarding them. First of all, the European regulatory environment is presented, with an overview on the state of transposition of the EU Directives for each Member State. Then pros and cons of Energy Communities are considered from a technical, economic and social point of view. Finally, some real case scenarios are presented.