It is called the Executive Course for Managers of Renewable Energy Communities and is held at the Santa Monica Campus of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Cremona. It starts as a pilot course to train professional figures who will be able to “govern” energy communities at 360 degrees. In fact, the aim is to delve into economic, fiscal, legal and management issues, to the point of touching on relational and communication aspects, so that the new CER managers can also act as agents for disseminating the idea of Renewable Energy Communities.
An example of grassroots democracy
At the center of this project there is a vision, as explained to us by Professor Daniele Rama, director of Smea, a passionate promoter of this initiative who unfortunately recently passed away. Renewable Energy Communities are a phenomenon that is emerging strongly on the national and European scene also thanks to their social character, so much so that they are often an example of bottom-up democracy. An aspect strongly recalled by the term “community”, and with the Catholic Church at the forefront on this aspect: in the encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis recalls that the task of taking care of creation has been entrusted to every Christian, and that various global crises – the economic, the environmental, the social – are closely related to each other and require an integral approach. The energy issue, which affects each of these areas, is an emblematic example.
However, it is a complex phenomenon that needs to be managed. For this reason, Smea, the Higher School of the Catholic University of Cremona which deals with economic and managerial issues, has organized a course to train managers of energy communities and their aggregations. This is a high-level executive training course aimed at those who are already actively involved or who expect to be actively involved in the promotion, design, start-up and management of these new forms of renewable energy production in the short term.
A “general manager” training
«The presence of a manager in an energy community is vital – Professor Davide Mambriani of Smea underlines us. – In the life of a CER you deal with many different aspects and deal with complex realities; to manage all this, people with interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder preparation are needed».
One of the peculiarities of the course for managers of renewable energy communities is the aim of training people who will have to manage other people and coordinate different subjects. With this course the aim is to equip operators with a “general management” approach. That is, people who have the necessary tools for correct and conscious business management, but also be empathetic, good communicators, know the characteristics of the environment, technologies and regulations, understand the nature of the different stakeholders, know how to navigate complex relationships between public and private.
The objective is to offer people a systemic vision of the issues related to renewable energy, which by definition are interdisciplinary. Therefore training them on technical aspects, i.e. related to the production, distribution and consumption of energy; economical; legal; social, to fight poverty and energy fragility and obviously environmental, linked to the positive impact of renewable energy.
A course that goes “beyond” the CERs
Furthermore, the figures who graduate from the Smea course will have a more general training background, which will be able to contribute to the strengthening of local communities in various sectors, such as social, educational and welfare services; but also sport, culture, landscape and environmental protection; up to taking on the role of Community Manager, i.e. aggregators and managers of all the energy present in the area.
It is no coincidence that among the partners who together with Smea carry out this course are the Lombardy Region, the Chamber of Commerce of Cremona, the Diocese of Cremona, the main business associations in the area, Anci Lombardia and Banca Etica and other local actors.
