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Abstract
The local authorities demonstrate their willingness to implement sound local sustainable energy policies, especially through their participation in the Covenant of Mayors (CoM). However, in rural environments, namely areas outside of large cities and towns, fulfilling their CoM commitments, especially as regards the local energy planning at the medium- to long-term scale, can come with very different and sometimes challenging constraints. In this context, the main objective of this paper is the assessment of the local communities’ needs and priorities, so as to identify the key parameters that should be taken into consideration during the development of their Sustainable Energy Action Plan. The adopted approach was implemented in rural communities from four countries (Austria, Croatia, Greece and Portugal). From the results obtained, the need for a methodology, appropriately customised to the rural communities’ characteristics, was determined, addressing especially interested stakeholders who are not ‘experts’ in the field.
Acknowledgements
The current paper was primarily based on the research conducted within the framework of the project ‘Rural Web Energy Learning Network for Action (eReNet)’ (project number: IEE/10/224/SI2.593412), supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme. The authors wish to thank the valuable suggestions and comments made by Josef Baernthaler (EAO), Christine Barnthaler (EAO), Eva Volkar (Municipality of Judenburg), Vesna Kolega (REGEA), Sanda Djukic (REGEA), Anastasia Allilomi (Municipality of Amyntaio), Elsa Nunes (IRRADIARE), Paulo Luis (Serta), Mariano Santos (Municipality of Serta), whose contribution, helpful remarks and fruitful observations were invaluable for the development of this work. The content of the paper is the sole responsibility of its authors and does not necessary reflect the views of the EC.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).