On 8 and 9 July Eutropian visited Austria to participate in the site visit of our Driving Urban Transitions Partnership transnational research project ENERGY4ALL focusing on energy communities and positive energy districts. The project runs six pilots in four countries, with two Austrian pilots in the mountainous, forested region of Styria in southern Austria, known for its wine, spas and castles, and now, also a booming network of energy communities.

The national climate targets envisage converting Austria’s electricity supply to be 100% from renewable energy sources (national balance) by 2030, and to achieve climate neutrality by 2040. Energy communities are an important part of this strategy, and represent a new milestone for the Austrian energy industry. They enable proactive participation in the energy transition, promoting the expansion of decentralised energy systems, offering economic incentives and strengthening regional value chains.

Team members Sophie Bod and Giovanni Pagano, along with our partners Professor Siddharth Sareen and Yonas Tesema Amaya from the University of Stavanger, Norway, and Stefan Geier from the BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, spent a couple of days getting to know the two pilots. We had a fantastic host in Heribert Strasser from So-strom, a company that services both pilots. So -strom is also a project partner, supporting communities from their set up, throughout their everyday operations with technical and financial expertise.