The development of energy communities depends by the quality of relations in a given territory and the level of awareness in the positive effects of the new energy-sharing model on the social, economic and environmental context.  

Early experiences have shown that public administrations can play a decisive role in the development of this model in terms of participation, information and welfare. 

In fact, the legal framework currently in force allows the public administration first of all to be a member of the associative (APS, ETS) or corporate (e.g. cooperative society, social enterprise) community contract. The P.A. can then enter into contracts with private partners, in the form of public-private partnership agreements, from which it can draw, not only funding, but also sophisticated expertise and know-how, while at the same time becoming a guarantor of the taxonomy of eco-sustainable activities set out in Regulation (EU) 2020/852. Finally, it should not be overlooked that the P.A. is the recipient of important public contributions. 

No less important is the role that the public administration is called upon to play in raising awareness and educating citizens and businesses on the energy market. Information, in fact, is the tool with which educating users' behaviour so that they become dynamic players in the market. 

The participation of the public administration in the energy community promotes purposes of general interest, not only economic and social, e.g. reducing energy costs, implementing services, allocating energy among the vulnerable, but also environmental, contributing actively to policies to safeguard and regenerate the planet.

The research aims to examining the legal instruments, including innovative ones, available to the public administration to implement the establishment of energy communities and develop territorial synergies capable of pursuing public interest goals underlying environmental sustainability. 

The research aim also to contributing to the common understanding of the energy communities, its potential, its positive effects on the territory, on the market, on the social sphere, also through the new innovative processes that make communication in the legal world more agile (legal design, storytelling), at the same time conveying knowledge, innovation and new technologies in the public administration.  

From the perspective of the PNRR, research contributes to the innovation and the strengthening of administrative capacity, the regulatory and administrative simplification of public administration through digitalisation, the security of decision-making processes and the implementation of the clean energy transition.