The need to define a path for energy production and consumption that facilitates the transition from a system based on fossil fuel sources (oil, coal, and natural gas) to one predominantly reliant on renewable energy sources, while maintaining grid stability, balance, and resilience, demands collective responsibility and a strong commitment to achieving global sustainability and climate change mitigation goals.

This transition requires a paradigm shift, not only in technology but also in recognizing the role of the end-user in driving change through distributed generation. Despite the development of various energy policies aimed at promoting renewable energy sources and increasingly ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the journey toward a true “epochal transition” remains challenging.

Although there is collective awareness of the environmental impact of energy production and consumption, strong resistance—particularly mental—persists against redefining consumption habits and adopting a psychological approach to the energy issue that considers its multidimensional and multidisciplinary nature.

This change presents a significant challenge for renewable energy communities. Within their innovative dimension and a complex interpretative framework, they can serve as both endpoints and starting points in the energy transition journey. This new and fascinating phenomenon requires a holistic approach to comprehend both its symbolic aspects and the technological and social innovations underlying it.

The reconfiguration, limited to defining the process just on production and only at an individual level (in the case of residential photovoltaics), has only partially translated into a real collective approach to the “energy issue.”

Within this interpretative framework, Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) are inserted as sociotechnical configurations and potential paths of innovation.