The new Legislative Decrees (no. 199 and no. 210/2021) implemented in Italy the EU Directive RED II and IEM which introduced the Renewable Energy Communities (REC) and Citizens Energy Communities (CEC). Both Directive enable consumers to become prosumers and, also, to storage and sell energy. These new actors of the decentralized Energy Market are composed by a network of energy consumers included municipal administrations, research and training bodies, religious bodies. The primary purpose of the REC is to provide environmental, economic or social community benefits for its shareholders or members or for the local areas where it operates. The Energy Communities may engage in generation, in energy storage, energy efficiency services or charging services for electric vehicles or provide other energy services to its members or shareholders. The role of the public administrations disclosed by the new regulatory framework is pivotal to implement in an effective way the constitutional principle of subsidiarity (art. 118 It. Cost.): on the ground of energy transition the alliance between citizens, enterprises and local and public authorities can boost the wellness of each area interested by the creation of the CEC or CER. The Fit for 55 program now followed by the REPowerEU Plan enhance the role of public authorities: the amendments to the Regulation 2021/241 establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility introduce the obligation to produce solar energy using the roofs of public and private buildings. The Public Administrations needs to adopt new specific policies and skills devoted to the climate crisis and war crisis. The aim of the project is to investigate the use of the energy communities’ legal models focusing the analysis on the contracts which can be used to create the energy communities and to manage the services of the CER and CEC. The project aims to give a new updated inclusive protection to all members of the Energy Communities as parts of new contracts and economic relationships. Citizens and Public Administrations need to sign contracts i) to set up REC or CEC and the REC and CEC; ii) to finance co-ownership; iii) to digitalize the energy exchanges, iii) to storage the energy; iiii) to distribute and sell energy; iiiii) to transform buildings in ‘smart’ and ‘energy efficient’ buildings. The prosumer, even if public body, continue to be a ‘week’ contractual part which needs protection, but the traditional notion of ‘consumer’ is not always useful or sufficient. The aim of the research is to adapt the consumer protection to this new kind of consumption models and to define the interplay between the Energy regulatory framework with the GDPR and the EU Directive 2019/770 which permits to use personal data as price for digital contents and services. The main objects of the research are: i) to analyze the Energy Packages, included the ‘Fit for 55’ and the REPowerEUPlan; ii) to collect Italian and EU best practices of REC and CEC; iii) to compare experiences in which the Public Administrations realized energy communities and to analyze the role of regional legislators in each experience; iiii) to analyze EU and national case-law in energy and data sharing. The expected outputs of the research are: i) a Prosumer ‘vademecum’ which define the level of protection in the different contracts signed by REC and CEC, with specific focus on the role of Public and Local Administrations; ii) a taxonomy of Energy consumer which define the different types of consumption (domestic or non-domestic; individual or collective); iiii) the different legal forms of REC and CEC (non profit organizations); iiiii) the different types of production; iiiiii) the distribution system; iiiiiiii) the selling systems and models; iiiiiiii) the vulnerable energy consumers specific protection and inclusive system; iiiiiiiiiii) the data protection measures in each phases of the energy production, consumption and sharing. The result of the Programme is to offer a contribution to Consumer Protection and Public policies strategies in a new regulatory framework in which data sharing and energy sharing is pivotal to realize the goal of climate neutrality. Without citizens, local/public authorities and enterprises involvement REC and CEC cannot start or be succesful, so the PHD research programme includes dissemination and communication activities which will be realized in at least 2 public administrations/municipalities, 2 condominiums and 2 enterprises, which will be pilot communities of the research, which tested the materials and the activities of the project. The PHD student: i) will develop the programme in foreign research centres in agreement with Camerino University (6 months); ii) will realize materials on the basis of the feedback of public administrations, municipalities, condominiums and enterprises of the pilot (2 months of stage in local authorities or enterprises involved in the programme); iii) will attend courses and seminars dedicated to Energy Market, Consumer, Public policies and Data Protection, Sharing economy (10 Credits each year in the first and second year of PHD course).

The following skills are useful to develop successfully the PHD Programme:- attitude to work in team - English language knowledge: at least level B2- legal or economic educational background is suitable, but not mandatory

The Phd Student will benefit from a multidisciplinary and international team composed by the ECPE researchers (43, from 15 nationalities- https://ecpe.Unicam.It/en/node) and will be involved in specific experiences of study and research guided by University of Camerino (Administration areas) focused on energy efficiency of University buildings also involved in reconstruction after the earthquake of 2016. He/she will be inserted in skilled research small-group composed by 5 Phd Students and 1 RTDA who are developing studies focused on Energy Communities. The research activities, coordinated by Prof. Lucia Ruggeri, received grants by PON Green Economy, Agenzia Coesione Sociale and several PMI interested in Energy Market. The Phd Student will enjoy an international and multisectorial environment thanks to international collaborations developed with several Italian research centers and stakeholder (e.G. ENSIEL, AISFOR; Federconsumatori, Legambiente). At international level the Phd Student can follow activities in several universities skilled in Energy and Energy Consumer Protection Legal and Social issues: East Anglia University (UK), Sorbonne Business School (FR), Rijeka University (HR) Madrid Carlos III (ES), Toyo University (Tokyo) (JAP), Louisiana State University (USA), International Business University of Almaty. The PHD Student will be inserted, also, in the Energy Platform of the University of Camerino, a specific multidisciplinary team composed by experienced researchers skilled in Energy and Climate Change. The Phd Student will benefit also from courses offered by UNICAM focused on Energy Law, Contracts and Markets, Environmental Law and Civil Economy.