Exploring the Links Between Clean Energies and Community Actions in Remote Areas: A Literature Review

In the fight against growing energy poverty in Europe, remote and rural areas are most affected but play a crucial role in promoting a fair and sustainable transition. Furthermore, energy communities have been recognized as cost-efficient options and opportunities to enhance the active participation of citizens in electricity markets. Despite the wide recognition of their potential in alleviating energy poverty, evidence is still limited. This paper investigates the ‘missing links’ in producing clean energy through community-based practices in remote areas. This study presents a literature review aimed at identifying case studies at the European level to build a knowledge base on the state of the art in the context of the Green Deal. Of the 4422 publications found, we identified and analyzed 266 publications with one or more European cases. Of these, only 67 publications used keywords relevant to our research objective, which we further explored and categorized according to the primary purpose of the study, i.e., assessment, barriers and gaps, implementation, management and planning, modeling, and public opinion. Our results show that publications serve mainly to test a methodology for potential use and not to recount an experience, lacking practical application and policy integration. Nevertheless, we noticed a tendency to activate citizen engagement forms or gather perceptions to increase social acceptability.