This business management guide is designed to help emerging and developing energy communities strengthen their financial management. To achieve this, the guide supports beneficiaries by:

• Listing and explaining key financial metrics and indicators through a practical glossary
• Providing a clear, step-by-step roadmap to help secure funding
• Offering simple guidance on how to conduct due diligence
• Explaining how to prepare and work with a pre-programmed financial model to assess financial viability

Together, these elements help beneficiaries prepare strong and realistic business cases, improving their project’s chances of succeeding and becoming financially sustainable. The guide also fills a gap in existing resources, offering clear and accessible material tailored specifically to the needs of energy communities—something currently limited at national and EU level.

This guide is also closely linked to the other support tools provided by the European Energy Communities Facility. It complements the Business Plan template and the financial model by explaining the financial concepts and indicators that project promoters will need when developing their plans. It also feeds into several modules of the capacity building programme, especially those focused on funding, financing, and long-term financial management. 

Download the guide