TY - JOUR
T1 - Identifying Key Barriers to Joining an Energy Community Using AHP
AU - Dioba, Albina
AU - Giannakopoulou, Amalia
AU - Struthers, David
AU - Stamos, Angelos
AU - Dewitte, Siegfried
AU - Fróes, Isabel
N1 - Published online: 2 May 2024.
PY - 2024/7/15
Y1 - 2024/7/15
N2 - Energy communities (ECs) offer a promising solution for achieving sustainable and decentralized energy systems. However, the successful establishment and operation of ECs requires overcoming barriers that can hinder stakeholder participation. Existing research has primarily focused on incentives and motivations to join ECs, thus neglecting a comprehensive understanding of the key barriers affecting EC stakeholders in European Union (EU) countries. This paper aims to fill this research gap by identifying and ranking the barriers to joining ECs in the EU context with focus on Spain and Italy. To accomplish this, a framework of barriers was developed based on 20 in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders of established ECs and a survey (n=56). The barriers identified were categorized into four types: (a) financial, (b) regulatory and bureaucratic, (c) technical and practical, and (d) social and cultural. The analytical hierarchical process (AHP) methodology was employed to estimate and rank these barriers. The findings highlight that the most significant barrier categories are regulatory and bureaucratic, and financial. Specifically, regulatory complexity and legal limitations emerge as the top-ranked barriers among the obstacles identified to joining ECs by research participants.
AB - Energy communities (ECs) offer a promising solution for achieving sustainable and decentralized energy systems. However, the successful establishment and operation of ECs requires overcoming barriers that can hinder stakeholder participation. Existing research has primarily focused on incentives and motivations to join ECs, thus neglecting a comprehensive understanding of the key barriers affecting EC stakeholders in European Union (EU) countries. This paper aims to fill this research gap by identifying and ranking the barriers to joining ECs in the EU context with focus on Spain and Italy. To accomplish this, a framework of barriers was developed based on 20 in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders of established ECs and a survey (n=56). The barriers identified were categorized into four types: (a) financial, (b) regulatory and bureaucratic, (c) technical and practical, and (d) social and cultural. The analytical hierarchical process (AHP) methodology was employed to estimate and rank these barriers. The findings highlight that the most significant barrier categories are regulatory and bureaucratic, and financial. Specifically, regulatory complexity and legal limitations emerge as the top-ranked barriers among the obstacles identified to joining ECs by research participants.
KW - Energy communities
KW - Stakeholder engagement
KW - Energy transition
KW - Analytical hierarchy process
KW - Energy communities
KW - Stakeholder engagement
KW - Energy transition
KW - Analytical hierarchy process
U2 - 10.1016/j.energy.2024.131478
DO - 10.1016/j.energy.2024.131478
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0360-5442
VL - 299
JO - Energy
JF - Energy
M1 - 131478
ER -