Re-imagining Post-Coal Regions through Digital Energy Communities: Bridging Policy, Interoperability and Just Transition Goals

The European Green Deal requires coal-dependent regions to undergo a rapid yet socially balanced transition toward climate neutrality. In countries such as Greece, Poland, and Germany, the phase-out of lignite has created pressing challenges related to energy security, economic restructuring, and social cohesion. At the same time, these regions host extensive legacy energy infrastructures and strong institutional experience, offering unique opportunities for sustainable redevelopment through decentralised and digitally enabled energy systems.

This paper explores how digitally supported energy communities can act as a key mechanism for supporting the just transition of former coal regions, bridging policy frameworks with advanced digital solutions. Based on the FlexBIT project, this study combines a comparative regulatory analysis of selected EU Member States with a focus on interoperability, data governance, and cybersecurity requirements for energy communities, alongside the design of digital platforms that enable flexibility services, energy sharing, and local energy market participation.

The analysis highlights that while EU legislation, particularly RED II/III, the Electricity Market Directive, the Data Act, and NIS2, provides a strong enabling framework, national implementation gaps and fragmented digital infrastructures remain critical barriers. In Greece, regulatory complexity, uneven digital readiness, and limited access to interoperable platforms constrain the ability of communities to fully exploit local renewable generation, storage, and flexibility potential.

The paper demonstrates how interoperable digital platforms, combining real-time data exchange, AI-based flexibility optimisation, and secure governance models, can repurpose existing energy infrastructures and empower local actors, including municipalities, SMEs, and citizens. By aligning regulatory compliance with digital innovation, energy communities can contribute to grid resilience, energy affordability, and social inclusion, transforming former lignite regions into hubs of clean energy innovation.

Overall, the study positions digitally enabled energy communities as a scalable and replicable pathway for integrating policy objectives, technological solutions, and social equity within the just transition of coal regions in Greece and across Europe.