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<p>The paper aims to identify how energy cooperatives and energy communities could affect the social innovation within the European Union as a whole and specifically in Bulgaria. It begins with an applicable legislation and energy policy analysis and provides a helicopter view of the regulatory framework connected with the energy communities and copperatives on both European and national level, as well as the opportunities for their future development. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify the gaps, which consists of a bibliometric and a content analysis and outlines a growing interest in those relatively new energy formations that promote renewable energy sources, enhance energy security and empower local communities. It highlights the current research gap and endorses the need for the conduction of some additional deeper researches and empirical studies. The SWOT analysis provides an in-depth assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threads of those energy formations in Bulgaria, with an emphasis on their advantages and the challenges in front of them. The results provide a clear understanding of the factors that can help the growth and sustainability of those energy organizations and how they can endorse the energy transition in the country and in the European Union as a whole.</p>
</abstract>

The paper aims to identify how energy cooperatives and energy communities could affect the social innovation within the European Union as a whole and specifically in Bulgaria. It begins with an applicable legislation and energy policy analysis and provides a helicopter view of the regulatory framework connected with the energy communities and copperatives on both European and national level, as well as the opportunities for their future development. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify the gaps, which consists of a bibliometric and a content analysis and outlines a growing interest in those relatively new energy formations that promote renewable energy sources, enhance energy security and empower local communities. It highlights the current research gap and endorses the need for the conduction of some additional deeper researches and empirical studies. The SWOT analysis provides an in-depth assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threads of those energy formations in Bulgaria, with an emphasis on their advantages and the challenges in front of them. The results provide a clear understanding of the factors that can help the growth and sustainability of those energy organizations and how they can endorse the energy transition in the country and in the European Union as a whole.

Energy Cooperatives and Communities to Foster Social Innovation in the EU – a Bulgarian Case Study – Prospects and Barriers

Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The paper aims to identify how energy cooperatives and energy communities could affect the social innovation within the European Union as a whole and...

Energy Cooperatives and Communities to Foster Social Innovation in the EU – a Bulgarian Case Study – Prospects and Barriers

Published Online: Jul 03, 2024

Page range: 1453 - 1464

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/picbe-2024-0119

Keywords
energy cooperatives, energy communities, social innovation, renewable energy, energy policy, sustainable energy transitions

© 2024 Lyubomira Gancheva., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Energy Cooperatives and Communities to Foster Social Innovation in the EU – a Bulgarian Case Study – Prospects and Barriers

Published Online: Jul 03, 2024

Page range: 1453 - 1464

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/picbe-2024-0119

Keywordsenergy cooperatives, energy communities, social innovation, renewable energy, energy policy, sustainable energy transitions

© 2024 Lyubomira Gancheva., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
energy cooperatives, energy communities, social innovation, renewable energy, energy policy, sustainable energy transitions