News
Unlocking Community Energy Financing: Lessons from LIFE ACCE at EECF 2025
Published on May 22, 2025
On May 21, community energy actors gathered for the LIFE ACCE session at the European Energy Communities Forum (EECF) to explore a central question: How can established energy communities take financing into their own hands to scale up the transition?
Under the title "Unlocking Community Energy Financing: Lessons from LIFE ACCE", the session offered both inspiration and practical guidance for communities eager to create their own Community Energy Financing Scheme (CEFS). Based on real-life experiences from the Netherlands, Romania and Spain, participants engaged in a hands-on exploration of what it takes to set up a CEFS in their own country or region.
Financing by Communities, for Communities
Energy communities across Europe face a familiar challenge: access to capital. The ACCE session made clear that while public and private financing options exist, they are often misaligned with the needs of citizen-led energy projects. A CEFS helps bridge this gap—by mobilising resources internally, strengthening community ownership, and creating long-term independence from external investors.
The session walked participants through the Self-Management Guide for CEFS, structured around five key dimensions
Each of these was illustrated with concrete case studies from Romania, Spain and the Netherlands.
From Theory to Action
Participants then split into small breakout groups, facilitated by collaborators from across the ACCE partnership—including Energie Samen, Goiener, Energie Partagée, BBEn, and others. Each group selected one case to work on and applied the CEFS framework to identify practical next steps. Discussions centered around real financing needs, gaps in access to capital, and opportunities for pooling community power.
This peer-learning format proved to be a powerful catalyst for reflection and planning. Many participants reported a shift in how they viewed their role—not just as project developers, but as future community finance enablers.
What’s Next?
The session closed by inviting participants to explore the full ACCE Self-Management Guide (available here).
As community energy matures, so must its financing models. The EECF session sparked a vital conversation—and perhaps the first steps towards new national CEFS initiatives.
