Putting People at the Heart of Energy Transitions

In early 2019, four research projects all funded under the same H2020 call seeking research on social innovation in the energy sector embarked on their three-year journeys. Each of the projects started with the aim to study one or multiple forms of social innovation in energy (SIE), such as energy cooperatives, prosumerism, new financing, business, and service models, as well as associated governance arrangements, to name a few. What all 4 projects had in common was the mission to shed light on what drives social innovation in energy, in which environments social innovation flourishes and what factors determine whether social innovation successfully contributes to reaching the European Union's goal to move towards a low-carbon energy system in which energy is more secure, sustainable, and affordable - and that puts European citizens at its heart.