The first bilateral meeting on the current state of play on energy communities in North Macedonia took place on 26.4.2023 in Public Room in Skopje. The event was organized as part of the project SunSharing – Supporting Solar Energy Communities in SEE with the aim of initiating a discussion on the framework conditions on energy communities and the necessary steps for implementing the definitions for Renewable energy communities and Citizen Energy Communities in the Macedonian legislation.

The event was attended by a diverse group of crucial actors in the energy sector, such as representatives from the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, members of the Ministry of Economy of Republic of North Macedonia, the distribution system operator (DSO) Elektrodistribucija EVN, municipalities (Gjorce Petrov), non-governmental organizations (Habitat Macedonia and Smart-up Lab), academic institutions (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies in Skopje) and experts working on USAID-funded relevant projects.

 Due to the background of the attendees, a constructive debate developed in the World Cafe style format. The participants presented their individual points of view about the barriers and potential of energy communities and shared ideas on how energy communities can be most seamlessly integrated in the national legislation. These inputs were carefully noted and collected for the preparation of a written report on the current state of play on energy communities. 

 One important outcome of the event was that multiple synergies were found between the activities of different participants, which could contribute to accelerating the implementation of energy community regulation in North Macedonia. As a result, all participants expressed interest in continuing the collaboration, thus establishing an informal working group which proceeds sharing knowledge and experiences related to energy communities.