With the emergence of energy communities, this paper explores their operationalization as a tool with which to create large and stable citizen science and education hubs focused on energy, where citizens can have the chance of exploring a first-hand approach to the energy transition. We present the rationale behind an energy community, whose purpose is to generate systemic and transformative changes in local environments. The concept of an energy community is used to reflect the legally recognized union of citizens, which is much stronger than any associative mechanism yet without such a structure. While the latter’s actions and interests align with those of energy communities, its operation mode differs in terms of the priority assigned to each of them. The developed model has been submitted for feedback to three European university communities. The feedback received has highlighted the acceptability of the model and encouraged us to move forward with its implementation. Approximately 90% of the participants in the study would partake in this type of energy community in very diverse ways, which shows the capacity of the model for inclusiveness and universal access to energy experiences. The barriers and drivers expressed by the participants of the study were analyzed to identify the aspects that foster or prevent citizens’ participation. This approach will allow us to define a more responsible action plan when turning these models into reality.

Energy communities led by local citizens are vital for achieving the European energy transition goals. This study examines the design of a regional energy community in a rural area of Spain, aiming to address the pressing issue of rural depopulation. Seven villages were selected based on criteria such as size, energy demand, population, and proximity to infrastructure. Three energy valorization scenarios, generating eight subscenarios, were analyzed: (1) self-consumption, including direct sale (1A), net billing (1B), and selling to other consumers (1C); (2) battery storage, including storing for self-consumption (2A), battery-to-grid (2B), and electric vehicle recharging points (2C); and (3) advanced options such as hydrogen refueling stations (3A) and hydrogen-based fertilizer production (3B). The findings underscore that designing rural energy communities with a focus on social impact—especially in relation to depopulation—requires an innovative approach to both their design and operation. Although none of the scenarios alone can fully reverse depopulation trends or drive systemic change, they can significantly mitigate the issue if social impact is embedded as a core principle. For rural energy communities to effectively tackle depopulation, strategies such as acting as an energy retailer or aggregating individual villages into a single, unified energy community structure are crucial. These approaches align with the primary objective of revitalizing rural communities through the energy transition.

Universities as centers for innovation by nature can play a relevant role in serving as education hubs for citizens in energy, promoting individual and collective behavioral changes among community members. By collaborating with their own communities on the energy transition, universities can become more sustainable while providing firsthand experiences that can trigger new attitudes in their students and employees. In this framework, this article explores ways to create partnerships to establish energy communities and promote shared photovoltaic energy facilities in an inclusive manner, emphasizing the social impact of such actions. Four public universities in Aarhus, Évora, Ljubljana, and Madrid are challenged to explore the avenues for turning this vision into reality. In this article, the entire exploratory process is described and the various barriers encountered are highlighted.

Achieving meaningful citizen engagement in energy innovation is crucial for a successful energy transition, but realizing high levels of participation remains a challenge. Successful initiatives characterized by high levels of participation—according to Arnstein's ladder—are presented and analyzed. In these cases, citizens play a key role in driving technological and social innovations within the energy sector over several decades. From the development of technical standards to the evaluation of energy yield, the assessment of solar module aging, the creation of in situ repair procedures, or the deployment of solar vehicles, among other examples, the initiatives studied demonstrate how citizens can meaningfully engage with researchers in the successful development of technical innovations. Regarding the deployment of social innovations, 34 energy communities are analyzed to assess engagement levels. The findings reveal a gap—similar to that observed in technical innovations—between current practices and genuine citizen‐led innovation. While many communities fall short of full citizen control, inspiring examples that demonstrate pathways toward deeper and more impactful citizen participation are showcased. By highlighting these successful cases, this study underscores the transformative potential of citizen engagement in accelerating the sustainable energy transition and provides actionable insights for fostering citizen‐driven innovation in the energy sector.

This thesis raises the challenge of real citizen participation in the energy transition. These questions are posed as follows: Do people really participate in projects that ensure citizen participation? How are they participating? Are their wishes being taken into account? What could be done to promote not only this participation but also an acceleration of the energy transition in the hands of citizens? Throughout this thesis, these questions are addressed, defining different methodologies to encourage not only citizen engagement in the energy transition but also active participation. To this end, the document is divided into different chapters that address the problems mentioned above, so that they are fully understood. Thus, with respect to citizen participation in the energy transition, Chapter 1 is presented, covering the meaning of citizen participation, analysing the state-of-the-art of citizen participation in technological and social innovations reported in the literature, and evaluating whether citizens who participate in community energy projects truly have active participation and whether their opinions are being considered, classifying such participation according to defined criteria. Next, Chapter 2 describes the methodology used in the development of this research. To this end, this chapter defines the rationale behind the proposal, presents the case study where this methodology is applied, and describes other communities where the same rationale has been implemented. Chapter 3 focusses on presenting the results of this thesis and their discussion. The chapter is structured based on rationale, first evaluating the case studies to determine the degree of participation. Second, it presents the development of an innovative algorithm, subsequently implemented in a mobile application, whose objective is to provide, in a personalised way, about the impact of individual energy consumption patterns on the achievement of European energy targets for 2030. This algorithm serves as an informative tool, rather than an intervention, aiming to support more responsible energy behaviours related to electricity use, heating, and transportation. In this chapter, the algorithm is applied at the European level, and the results obtained through citizen collaboration in five European countries are analysed, drawing conclusions to identify behavioural patterns based on socioeconomic factors of users. Third, the chapter delves into the concept of citizen hubs as centres of active and participatory learning, with the aim of encouraging behavioural change. It explores the implementation of the Citizen Hub at the South Campus of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, presenting its design and development, as well as the activities carried out, and other alternative actions implemented in other twin citizen hubs. Fourth, the potential of educational centres to create energy communities as tools for energy transition is presented, detailing the approach taken by four universities in four different European countries, the barriers faced, and the solutions proposed and implemented. Finally, the impact of the rationale is evaluated, assessing whether the proposed objectives have been achieved through the diverse actions undertaken. Next, following the line of community energy projects, Chapter 4 addresses the implementation of large-scale energy communities to enhance social impact, analysing different approaches to surplus valorisation aimed at maximising local benefits, in the specific case of the Calatayud region, Spain. Finally, Chapter 5 concludes this work by answering the questions posed at the beginning and highlighting the critical role of genuine citizen participation in accelerating the energy transition. It also outlines how citizen hubs can be integrated into energy communities, or vice versa, to foster behavioural change and serve as learning hubs grounded in hands-on training and real-life experiences. RESUMEN En esta tesis se plantea el problema de la participación real de la ciudadanía en la transición energética a través de las cuestiones: ¿realmente participa la gente en los proyectos que aseguran participación ciudadana?, ¿de qué forma participan?, ¿se tienen en cuenta los deseos de las personas?, ¿qué se puede hacer para fomentar también una aceleración de la transición energética de la mano de la ciudadanía?, ¿existen otras formas de actuación de participación para lograr los objetivos de la transición energética? Esta tesis responde a estas preguntas, definiendo diferentes metodologías para fomentar no solo la participación ciudadana en la transición energética, sino que sea de forma activa. El documento se divide en capítulos, abordando los problemas mencionados para comprenderlos en su totalidad. Respecto a la participación en la transición energética, el Capítulo 1 desarrolla su significado, analizando el estado del arte de la participación ciudadana en innovaciones tecnológicas y sociales y evaluando si las personas que forman parte de proyectos comunitarios de energía realmente participan de forma activa y se tiene en cuenta su opinión, clasificando dicha participación en función de unos criterios definidos. A continuación, el Capítulo 2 aborda la metodología seguida en el desarrollo del trabajo. Se define un rationale del que deriva la propuesta, presenta el caso de estudio donde se aplica esta metodología, así como otras comunidades donde se ha puesto en marcha el mismo rationale. El Capítulo 3 se enfoca en los resultados de esta tesis y su discusión, se estructura en base al rationale, primero se evalúa en los casos de estudio, para conocer el grado de implicación de los participantes. Segundo, se presenta el desarrollo de un algoritmo...