This document provides an overview of barriers and challenges faced by energy communities, as well as some best practices on European energy communities. The reports starts with the barriers and challenges, linking to literature and existing cases. 3 types of barriers are discussed: • Socio-economic barriers • Technical barriers • Institutional and regulatory barriers The text provides a further analysis on whether listed or claimed barriers are effective barriers for energy community, or whether they link to legitimate requests or to apply to diverse initiatives and not only energy communities. The best practices provide a selection of 4 cases, Samsø in Denmark, Ecopower in Belgium, ElektrizitätsWerke Schönau in Germany, and Ameland Energiecoöperatie in the Netherlands. The different cases are described and the barriers they face are discussed.
