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Energy Community Insights: Slovenia's National Coalition
The Life COMET project aims to transform the community energy landscape in Central and Eastern Europe through assessment, experience sharing, and coalition building. Our series of blog posts “Energy Community Insights: A Tour of Central & Eastern Europe” explores the emergence and growth of national coalitions of energy communities in Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia.
This blog post introduces Slovenia’s national coalition of energy communities, offering an overview of the coalition’s activities and an inside look through the eyes of one of its members, Božidar Roglič, President of the Zeleni Hrastnik Energy Cooperative.
Slovenia’s Community Energy Coalition
Slovenia’s national coalition of energy communities operates informally but actively under the name Network for Energy Communities. Its primary mission is to promote energy communities and enable a more supportive environment to achieve a just and sustainable energy transition. The coalition aims to play a pivotal role in raising awareness about energy communities, providing technical and legal advice to local initiatives, and fostering collaboration among stakeholders such as cooperatives, municipalities, NGOs, research institutions and renewable energy companies. A central focus of the coalition is national policy. Early on, members engaged in consultations on Slovenia’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), providing expert input and demonstrating a commitment to policy change.
A highlight of the coalition’s policy work was the October 2024 workshop that brought together coalition members and representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Energy. This workshop provided an important platform to discuss barriers, explore opportunities, and propose enabling measures to support energy communities.
With support from the Life COMET project, the Slovenian coalition has been able to build momentum—identifying key stakeholders, launching workshops, and signing an “Intent to Cooperate” document, which has already been co-signed by 17 organizations. The coalition’s long-term goals include the promotion of renewable energy, the democratization of the energy system, and the fight against energy poverty. The coalition also aims to promote social justice, including gender equality, within energy communities.
A Conversation with Božidar Roglič: Strength in Unity
Božidar Roglič, President of the Zeleni Hrastnik Energy Cooperative and representative in Slovenia’s national coalition, shared his reflections on the coalition’s purpose and impact:
Can you tell us about your role in the coalition?
"The initiatives that we represent as a coalition aim to bring all energy communities together in order to exchange experiences, but also to steer legislation in the right direction. The first project that the Zeleni Hrastnik Energy Cooperative successfully implemented so far was the Solar School Hrastnik energy community, where we built a solar power plant and connected together public institutions, the municipality of Hrastnik, as well as a couple of private partners and citizens."
What value does being part of the coalition bring?
"The added value of participating in a national coalition is that we exchange experiences, that there is this flow of information—if someone has already faced a problem, their experience can later help others avoid the same issues. By coming together, we are stronger and we hope to influence national policy so that energy communities are treated more fairly or even favored."
What is your long-term vision for the coalition?
"The objectives of our network are to explore the possibilities for establishing and operating energy communities, to advocate for future legislative changes, and to promote the concept of energy communities more broadly. We want to analyze in our region what can be achieved with energy communities and to showcase that such practices should be encouraged through supportive legislation. These changes are not made in a few days, but are lengthy processes. I hope that the Energy Communities Coalition, this network, will promote energy communities, because we need to work together to highlight and defend our interests. I hope that together we will succeed."
Through grassroots cooperation, proactive advocacy, and the dedication of its members, Slovenia’s national coalition will contribute to the creation of fertile ground for community energy to flourish. As the coalition grows, so does its potential to shape a more equitable and sustainable energy future for all.
