Local energy production. Opportunities and challenges for inter-communities - December 2020

This study aims at highlighting opportunities and challenges related to the development of local energy production projects by grouped communities for the optimisation of the local energy mix and for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This study is based on a survey among 1,236 French commune, agglomeration and urban communities, and on interviews of various actors. It first proposes an overview of ambitions and actions of grouped communities: their mobilisation for energy transition, the status of necessary technical and political support for energy transition, the existence of potentialities to valorise and opportunities to seize, the adoption of the right approach (diagnosis, planning, action plan). It addresses the case of renewable energies at the local level: present situation, sectors which are already invested and being developed, identification of the relevant legal arrangement and definition of the governance. The last part addresses breaks to be anticipated and solutions to be implemented to overcome regulatory difficulties, to face the lack of financial means and of internal engineering means, to address acceptability by associating citizens.