Irish POWER-E-COM partners meet in Nenagh to advance community energy pilots

The Irish POWER-E-COM partners met in Nenagh in August 2025 to review progress across the project’s community energy work and coordinate the next phase of delivery.

Tipperary Energy Agency (TEA), Community Power and Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) are supporting five Irish community initiatives through POWER-E-COM: Kilcock, Sligo, Claremorris, Barnaderg/Tuam and Sustainable Energy West – Naomh.

The communities are at very different stages. Some are progressing utility-scale solar projects through planning, grid and finance decisions. Others are testing whether a project remains financially viable before committing further community resources. Sustainable Energy West – Naomh is exploring a broader model involving household energy upgrades, rooftop solar and local finance.

This variation is important to the project. POWER-E-COM is not attempting to impose one standard business model on every community. Instead, the Irish partners are identifying what each community needs to make a sound next decision and documenting the lessons that can be replicated elsewhere.

The Nenagh meeting also supported coordination of training, stakeholder engagement, business model development and the CATALYST platform, which brings together SEC tools and resources in one place.

POWER-E-COM is a LIFE Programme project co-funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement 101120998.