The LIFE EnerGISE (Energy communities Effective Guidance, Advise, Innovative Support and Stimulation) aims to streamline and promote the process of establishing and developing energy communities in Central Europe (CE). A follow-up objective of the project is to accumulate, develop and contextualize all the current know-how in the field of establishment and development of such communities at the European level and to apply it effectively in the CE area.

The know-how in the form of a user-friendly database will split into four key dimensions: Legislative, Technical, Financial and Socio-Economic. The key knowledge allocated in these dimensions will be applied in the form of specific services to be provided to energy communities at different stages of their preparation/development within newly established one-stop-shops (OSS) in 5 CE countries with low accessibility of know-how and good practice examples. The feedback from the provision of these services, i.e. the level of interest of energy communities and their assessment of the service relevance and quality, will be used to update both the services and the know-how database. The key findings from the real engagement with energy communities through the OSS centres will be subsequently disseminated and replicated at European level in an updated form, in addition to national and regional levels. The main tools for this dissemination and replication will involve: training and consultation events (workshops and conferences); fact sheets with structured descriptions highlighting best practices; case studies; and, finally, policy recommendations for European, national and regional institutions resulting from the project analytical part such as mapping barriers.

Update 12/2025: The LIFE EnerGISE consortium just completed a Needs Analysis across Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, and Hungary. Read the full report here: https://life.beepartner.cz/news/the-needs-analysis-of-central-european-energy-communities/

The OSS network will be expanded to include other partners interested in leveraging the project tools as early as in the final part of the project, after pilot testing of all the tools. The project consortium is composed of 9 partners, 2 affiliated and 1 associated partner from 7 countries and is led by BeePartner from the Czech Republic.

Planned key achievements

For more information and regular updates please visit: https://life.beepartner.cz/

 

eclareon, in partnership with the Slovak Association of Photovoltaic Industry and RES (SAPI), has conducted a landmark study forecasting that Slovakia’s renewable energy sector could require as many as 77,000 skilled employees by 2030. If the country accelerates heat pump deployment beyond current projections, however, the number could rise to an estimated 121,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions. These figures stem from an in-depth analysis of three key technologies—solar PV, onshore wind, and heat pumps—across three developmental scenarios: business-as-usual, the Draft Update of the National Energy and Climate Plan, and a net-zero pathway targeting carbon neutrality by 2050.

Under the Draft Update NECP scenario alone, the study predicts around 50,000 FTE jobs, led by heat pumps (43%), with onshore wind and solar PV splitting the remaining 57%. The business-as-usual scenario, meanwhile, anticipates over 53,000 positions, dominated by heat pumps (82%). By contrast, the net-zero path envisions 77,000 FTE jobs, mostly from solar PV (65%) and onshore wind (35%), but this calculation does not yet include additional heat pump potential. Should heat pump deployment scale up at even the business-as-usual rate under the net-zero scenario, total employment could reach the 121,000 mark.

The study combines an employment factor model and an input-output model, integrating both secondary sources and unique primary data collected through online business surveys and expert interviews. According to eclareon’s analysis, despite 2023 having been designated the European Year of Skills, Slovakia’s education system still struggles to align with the specialized requirements of green jobs. Many companies in the renewables sector face a mismatch between the STEM skills they need and the existing labor force, pointing to a critical need for expanded technical training, interdisciplinary curricula, and hands-on industry partnerships.

To discuss these findings and explore actionable solutions, a high-level, invitation-only event was held on 29 October 2024 at the European Commission Representation in Bratislava. In attendance were national policymakers and representatives of major energy firms seeking to bridge the gap between the country’s labor supply and its rapidly evolving green energy sector. Presenting on behalf of eclareon were Vlad Surdea-Hernea (Project Manager) and Ulf Lohse (Senior Consultant), who outlined how Slovak industry and the government can collaborate to maximize the environmental and socio-economic benefits of renewables.

The full study, containing detailed methodology and scenario breakdowns, can be accessed at: Green Jobs in Slovakia (PDF).

 

 

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has intensified its energy transition, aiming for higher shares of renewable energy sources (RES) to reduce energy dependence and substitute Russian imports. This initiative aligns with key EU strategies like the Green Deal, Fit-for-55 Package, REPowerEU, and the revised Renewable Energy Directive (RED 2023/2413). Central to this effort is Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2577, a temporary emergency framework introduced in December 2022 to address lengthy permitting procedures—a major obstacle to renewable energy investments.

The objectives of this project include:

 

  1. Analysis of the Council Regulation: A comprehensive review of Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2577, including its extended provisions under the November 2023 review, to evaluate its impact on accelerating renewable energy investments in ten EU Member States. Key areas of focus will include:
  2. Assessment of Key Legislative Measures: Evaluate how temporary emergency measures, now extended until June 2024 and partially incorporated into the revised RED, have addressed barriers to renewable energy deployment.
  3. Policy Recommendations: Provide insights into the effectiveness of these measures in streamlining permitting processes and scaling renewable energy capacity. The findings will guide future legislative and regulatory developments to sustain the momentum of renewable energy deployment.
  4. Capacity Building: Support EU Member States, regulators, and developers by offering evidence-based recommendations to enhance procedural and distributive efficiency in renewable energy permitting processes.

By analyzing the impact of accelerated permitting initiatives, this project contributes to refining the EU’s renewable energy strategy, ensuring its alignment with broader sustainability, security, and climate goals.

This project, led by eclareon, focuses on creating NGO guidelines and recommendations to ensure fair community engagement and benefit-sharing in solar, wind, and grid projects. It includes an in-depth report analyzing current European policies, measures, and practices, as well as case studies highlighting good practices and areas for improvement.

The initiative aims to provide evidence-based insights for regulators, developers, and municipalities, promoting strategies that enhance community acceptance and equitable development of renewable energy projects. By fostering procedurally just and distributively fair approaches, the project seeks to support the rapid and fair expansion of renewable energy in Europe.

Additionally, the project contributes to broader European and global efforts to establish common standards for fair renewable energy practices, offering criteria, KPIs, and actionable recommendations for stakeholders.

The ARES project aimed to contribute to an effective and cost-efficient deployment of renewable energy in the European Union by improving regional cooperation, in particular through the transparency of Member States’ investment plans and policies.

To this end, the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) of all member states were reviewed. The main focus was on the existing cooperation measures between the member states (e.g. statistical transfers) as well as on the planned installed renewable energy capacities and investments for the next decades.

As part of the TaqatHy project, realized by GIZ with the support of their political partner, Algeria’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), eclareon analyses the local value chains in Algeria for large and medium-sized solar and wind farms, as well as the quality infrastructure of such projects.

The results of the research will be compiled into a study containing recommendations for the development of local solar and wind value chains and their quality infrastructure in Algeria. These results can be used to strengthen Algeria’s renewable energy strategy.

As part of the TaqatHy project, realized by GIZ with the support of their political partner, Algeria’s Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), eclareon analyses the local value chain in Algeria in the field of large and mid-size enterprises for existing and future infrastructures of blue and green hydrogen, its development potential, the main factors for market development and the opportunities for local companies to participate in different link along the value chain.

The results will be laid out in a report highlighting recommendations for the development of the local green hydrogen value chain and related quality infrastructure in Algeria, in relation to the successful countries in the sector.

As the European Commission worked in 2015 to further develop and concretize post-2020 climate and energy policies, there was a need to explore the potential role of biogas in achieving European climate and energy goals. An important question in this context was which policies at the EU and Member State levels could best contribute to the effective and efficient growth of biogas in the EU. To this end, the European Commission commissioned CE Delft, eclareon and DLO (Institutes Alterra and FBR) to conduct a technical study to evaluate the optimal use of biogas after 2020, which developed scenarios for possible developments of biogas in the EU until 2030.

With the adoption of the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) 2018/2001 the foundations have been made for a significant administrative simplification and a higher transparency of the procedures for renewable energy projects.

However, in addition to the monitoring of the legal transposition of the RED II there will still be ample room for further improvements of the administrative procedures related to permit granting and exchanges of best practices between bodies at regional level, national level and cross border.

The scope of this project was therefore the practical implementation of the Articles 15, 16 and 17 of the RED II and the identification of best practices in EU member states.

In addition to the main report, the consortium has produced 29 comprehensive national reports describing approval procedures and associated obstacles and best practices at the national level: