SROIs4PEDs
Social Return on Investments for Positive Energy Districts: Making energy communities financially viable and socially measurable through integrated municipal planning tools
- Category
- Project
- Call
- DUT Call 2025
- Duration
- –
- Project coordinator
- RISE Research institutes of Sweden
SROIs4PEDs addresses a key challenge in the transition to climate-neutral cities: despite years of research and pilot projects, Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) and energy communities are still difficult to implement and scale. Major barriers include weak business models, regulatory constraints, limited municipal decision-support tools, and difficulties in demonstrating social and economic value. The project focuses specifically on how municipalities, energy communities and energy market actors can make better investment and planning decisions by integrating Social Return on Investment (SROI) into PED development. The central research question is how social, environmental and economic benefits, such as affordability, social cohesion, health, local jobs and energy savings, can be measured, monetized and incorporated into planning processes to make PEDs financially viable, socially beneficial and easier to replicate across different European contexts.
The project will develop and test an integrated framework combining the Positive Energy Planning Process (PEPP), the ElectriCITY Model (ECM) and Social Return on Investment (SROI). This includes stakeholder engagement, energy planning, social impact assessment, technical simulations and digital decision-support tools that help municipalities and energy communities evaluate alternative development scenarios. Work will take place in four living labs: Hammarby Sjostad in Sweden, Klimadorfl and Wienergy in Austria, and energy communities in Girona province, Spain. Real operational data, community engagement activities and pilot implementations will be used to validate the approach. The project will also create a practical toolkit, policy recommendations and transferable implementation guidelines, enabling municipalities and energy communities to integrate social value considerations into energy planning and investment decisions.
SROIs4PEDs is expected to deliver validated methods and tools that make energy communities more financially sustainable and socially attractive. The project will provide municipalities and energy system operators with decision-support tools that combine technical, economic and social indicators, making long-term societal benefits visible and measurable. Expected impacts include raised knowledge and improved decisions among stakeholders which will realize more PED projects and greater social benefits. Further, the project aims to demonstrate financially viable business models for energy communities, create replicable approaches for PED implementation, and support policy development across Europe. By showing the social return generated by energy investments, the project will help transform energy communities from isolated pilot initiatives into a mainstream component of municipal energy planning and sustainable urban development.
Austria
Spain
Sweden
Electricity Innovation ekonomisk förening, S4S i Sverige AB, LocalLife Sweden AB, Universitat de Girona, RealityLab GmbH, e7 Energie Markt, Analyse GmbH, Competence Center for Nonprofit
Järfälla kommun, Ayuntamiento de Girona, Diputación de Gerona, Stadt Wien, Erneuerbare-Energie-Gemeinschaft Wienergy
Contact
Bodil Ahlström
bodil.ahlstrom@ri.se