SOCIALRES PROJECT – FOSTERING ENERGY DEMOCRACY THROUGH SOCIAL INNOVATION

SocialRES aims at fostering energy democracy through social innovations defined as cooperatives, aggregators of
renewable energy and crowdfunding platforms. The photovoltaic technology is one of the most promising technology
in terms of social acceptance since it can be adapted to a variety of surfaces in buildings [1] and can offer a
competitive source for the electricity supply almost everywhere nowadays [2]. PV is therefore often included among
the technologies to be financed through energy cooperatives and crowdfunding campaigns. Moreover, as
decentralized source of renewable electricity, it is utilized in Peer to Peer (P2P) virtual platforms implemented by
aggregators as a concrete alternative to the traditional utilities based on power plants supplied by fossil fuels. Small -
scale decentralised PV systems can be considered as the utilities of the future, when managed by aggregators as
Virtual Power Plants (VPPs). They will therefore represent a fundamental piece in the path towards energy
democracy. In order to make this sustainable future possible, having in mind the urgency generated by the climate
change, a disrupted shift is needed in terms of implementation of social innovations for the energy sector. SocialRES
aims to devise effective ways of increasing social innovation leading to greater social acceptability of renewable
energy systems. This is done by a better understanding of support structures for successful social innovations in the
renewable energy sector such as renewable energy cooperatives, aggregators and crowdfunding platforms. These
businesses facilitate consumers to take an active role in the energy sector. Through research excellence and cocreation
of knowledge, SocialRES will develop socially innovative and inclusive strategies for the energy system of
the future. SocialRES will supplement the existing fragmented data on social innovations with new understandings
from businesses, end-users and stakeholders to provide a comprehensive evidence base for policy design. Innovative
techniques are employed such as a Peer to Peer (P2P) crowd-investing for renewable energy sources projects, P2P
lending and P2P virtual photovoltaic electricity platforms for aggregators. Within the SocialRES project, an
innovative P2P photovoltaic virtual platform will be developed as a pilot software application in off-line mode and
will facilitate the understanding about existing barriers within current electricity markets and policies. Experience
will be accumulated related to the main issues with the common access for energy trades between different actors on
the market: prosumers, consumers, balancing responsible party and distributed photovoltaic generators. SocialRES is
a research and innovation project funded by the European Commission.