Thirty students from Wageningen University explore the topic in their research project
A renewable energy community is a group that is legally formed and operates based on voluntary participation. It is controlled by individuals or organizations who are located near renewable energy projects owned by the community. The members of this community can be individuals, small businesses, or local government bodies such as municipalities. The main goal of a renewable energy community is to benefit the environment, economy, and society in the areas where it operates, rather than focusing solely on making financial profits.
In the first 2 weeks of June, Friends of the Earth Malta hosted a group of 30 students from Wageningen University, The Netherlands for a research project on Renewable Energy Communities, as part of their ‘European Workshop’ unit. The students researched the opportunities for community energy initiatives in Malta through interviews and surveys to better understand how Maltese residents and communities can get involved. In total, they managed to conduct over 700 surveys and hold 19 interviews with local stakeholders. On the final day of their visit, the students presented their initial results at the Local Council’s Association in Marsa, and engaged the stakeholders attending the presentation with a game to build a renewable energy community.
As Friends of the Earth Malta we are very grateful for the data and insights collected by the students and look forward to receiving their final report in the coming weeks.
Here is what some of the students had to say about their experience researching the topic of community energy in Malta:
“The final presentation with Friends of the Earth Malta was an incredible opportunity to dynamically engage with local stakeholders. It allowed us to share our work, but more importantly to learn more about the energy sector in Malta from a bottom-up perspective”
“Before this project, I felt like I knew a lot about energy communities. Thanks to Friends of the Earth Malta, my team and I managed to apply our knowledge on a real-life case. Researching was frustrating at times, because we realized energy communities weren’t as easy to implement as we thought. This however made our knowledge on energy communities more tangible. This project has inspired me to further explore energy communities in different contexts”
“Interacting with people from Malta allowed us to better understand the Maltese culture. This was an extremely valuable experience because it made us realize that energy communities are not a one-shot solution: they must be tailored to the specificities of the communities. This makes energy communities an even more unique concept in my eyes.”
Anyone interested in staying updated about our work on community energy, and the creation of the first renewable energy cooperative in Malta can sign up via the link here.
