Deriving a framework for monitoring and evaluating energy justice of citizen energy communities

Communities of citizens which produce, store, trade and distribute renewable energy are changing the energy system. In this paper we derive and present an innovative framework for monitoring and evaluating the quality of end user engagement in energy communities. The framework is based on the model “The Voicer” for evaluating citizen participation, thereby drawing from a rich theoretical body of literature on environmental justice and energy justice This paper presents and discusses the results of applying and adapting the framework to the context of seven developing energy communities in five countries in the Horizon2020 project Lightness. The novelty of this framework is that it is tailored to end user engagement participation processes related to the initiation of energy communities. It considers the relevance of aspects of social justice for digital energy trading platforms and demand response systems. While implementation of the framework in the project is still in its early stages, some relevant lessons for energy community and just engagement policies in Europe emerge. As such, the framework proposed in this paper has the potential to serve policy makers, researchers and practitioners as an innovative tool for assessing matters of justice in energy communities.