The aim of the project is to empower and involve young people in energy communities to actively contribute to the energy transition. The project recognises the significance of youth leadership in adopting new lifestyles and acquiring skills for supporting sustainable energy practices.

The main challenges and barriers which are preventing the active participation of young people in energy communities are:

• legal barriers for empowered youth energy communities and collective energy actions,
• overlooking and excluding young people from decision-making processes in the field of energy, despite their active involvement in their communities and their driving force to take action towards the advancement of the 2030 Agenda,
• lack of knowledge among young people about opportunities to get involved in the energy transition despite the existence of a myriad of initiatives that may nevertheless seem too prestigious, technical or bureaucratic,
• lack of awareness of different energy communities and their benefits among the general public.

Thus, the overall objective of the POWERYOUTH project is to address these challenges by effectively engaging young people and other key stakeholders in collective actions.

The overall objective is achieved by setting up and supporting collective actions in youth energy communities and developing a toolkit that facilitates the empowerment of youth in energy communities. The POWERYOUTH project will mobilise youth organisations and local authorities to replicate the POWERYOUTH approach across EU.

The POWERYOUTH approach will run 5 pilots in EU countries: Greece, Portugal, Latvia, Austria, and Poland – aiming to create 10 youth energy communities and involve at least 1,000 young people and other stakeholders as members.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES:

POWERYOUTH project will:

• create and execute a comprehensive and easily replicable capacity building programme to train young people in green energy skills and promote their participation in energy communities.
• form the Youth Energy Community Leaders group, which will act as a multiplier in the dissemination of good sustainable energy practices and facilitate young people's participation in energy communities at a European level.
• formulate policy recommendations and develop exploitation plans for accelerating youth energy communities’ adoption in new areas.
• empower the future of energy transition by engaging young minds in sustainable practices.

PARTNERS:

• SINGULARLOGIC ANONYMI ETAIREIA PLIROFORIAKON SYSEL (SLG), Greece
• ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION – NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS (NTUA), Greece
• ADEPORTO - AGÊNCIA DE ENERGIA DO PORTO, Portugal
• RIGAS PLANOSANAS REGIONS (RPR), Latvia
• OURPOWER ENERGIEGENOSSENSCHAFT SCE MIT BESCHRA, Austria
• STOWARZYSZENIE GMIN POLSKA SIEC ENERGIE CITES (PNEC), Poland
• CITIES NETWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOP (SCN), Greece
• ALDA - ASSOCIATION EUROPEENNE POUR LA DEMOCRAT, France
• SPACE HELLAS ANONYMI ETAIREIA SYSTIMATA KAI YPIRES (Affiliated), Greece
• YES-Europe (YOUNH LEADERS IN ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY (Associated), Switzerland

DURATION: 1 January 2024 – 31 December 2026

POWERYOUTH is co-funded by the European Union under the LIFE+ Programme within the grant agreement No 101120687 — LIFE22-CET-POWERYOUTH. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.