Within the Horizon Project INTELLIGENT, between May and August 2025 AIT experts conducted a series of four workshops with 16 key stakeholders representing the project’s four pilot sites – the Collaborative Energy Living Lab (CELL) in Switzerland (five participants), the Lugaggia Innovation Community (LIC) also in Switzerland (four participants), the Bicesse Kindergarten and Feirense Football Stadium pilot in Portugal (four participants), and the Aran Islands energy community in Ireland (three participant).
Through these workshops, AIT researchers gathered input from stakeholders across multiple sectors including government officials, local community managers, academic researchers, and technology providers, among others.
The goal of these sessions was to comprehensively understand stakeholder views on energy communities (ECs) and identify both opportunities and concerns regarding the implementation of blockchain-based peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading solutions at each project pilot location.
Key Findings
Stakeholders overwhelmingly view ECs as vital drivers for the energy transition, serving as models for innovation, scaling up renewables, and combating energy poverty. Success of new energy trading models requires developing a clear, adequate regulatory framework and robust digital and physical grid infrastructure. For EC members, demonstrable financial benefits (e.g., cost savings) are seen as one of the key success indicators, with other key metrics including social benefits like community empowerment, local ownership, and high user trust built on transparency and simplicity.
The most significant barriers are the current lack of regulatory clarity and limited financial incentives for spot-price trading. Technical complications and system integration difficulties are also seen as potential obstacles to the realization of P2P energy trading. Failure scenarios are commonly linked to low adoption rates stemming from perceived complexity, with the worst case being the loss of public trust in new energy models.
These findings stress that while P2P energy trading is feasible and desirable, its success requires aligning policy, technology, and community engagement. Mitigation strategies, such as running pilot projects and ensuring early customer engagement through clear communication, are now considered essential to build confidence, reduce barriers, and make P2P initiatives a viable pathway for scaling energy communities.
Dr. Guglielmo Papagni,
Scientist at the AIT’s Center for Technology Experience