Written by Emma A. Assam (YES-DC Board President- 2024/2025)
Introduction
The global energy transition is not only a technical shift it is a social transformation that demands inclusive participation and systemic reform. As societies pivot from fossil fuels to renewable energy, the question is not only what technologies we adopt, but who gets to shape, access, and benefit from them. This shift creates space for new governance models that prioritize equity, transparency, and community ownership.
Among these, community solar initiatives which are gaining momentum. They enable multiple community members to participate in and benefit from shared solar projects without the need for individual systems, overcoming barriers such as high costs, space limitations, and technical constraints associated with private rooftop solar. These initiatives reflect the principles of energy communities, citizen-led models that centre people in the energy transition and offer a pathway toward more just and resilient energy systems.
At the forefront of this transformation lies a critical but often underrecognized force: youth. Young people are not just future stakeholders; they are present-day innovators, organisers, and leaders. Yet they remain underrepresented in energy planning, policy, and governance.
This paper explores how youth-led community solar initiatives contribute to the energy transition, how these efforts can evolve into energy communities, and what structural support is needed to empower young people as leaders in the global energy transition. It draws on global examples, policy frameworks, and empowerment theory to expound the strategic value of youth leadership in shaping inclusive, resilient energy systems.
Energy Communities and Their Global Relevance
Energy communities are citizen-led collectives that produce, manage, and consume energy, often from renewable sources, based on principles of local ownership and shared benefit. Emerging across the globe they decentralize the control of traditional utility structures by redistributing power into the hands of citizens and community members.Their global relevance lies in their adaptability: energy communities respond to diverse local contexts while advancing shared goals of energy justice, climate resilience, and inclusive governance.
In Europe, the concept is formalized through the EU’s Clean Energy Package (CEP), which introduced Citizen Energy Communities (CECs) and Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) via Recast Electricity Directive 2019/944/EU and the recast Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001/EU. These directives empower Member States to support energy communities through legal recognition, simplified procedures, and access to funding.
The Netherlands, for example, has seen a dramatic rise in energy cooperatives, with hundreds of initiatives engaging tens of thousands of citizens. In Germany, approximately 22% of the installed renewable electricity capacity is owned by sustainable energy communities. Outside Europe, Kenya;s rural microgrids managed by local cooperatives provide reliable solar power. In Rwanda, the government actively promotes the development of energy communities through initiatives like the National Electrification Program, which encourages the use of microgrids, solar home systems, and community-managed renewable energy projects to increase rural access to electricity. In Brazil, urban solar collectives empower favela residents to co-own energy systems. In the United States, community solar gardens allow renters and low-income households to benefit from shared installations.
These models vary in scale, from a few households sharing rooftop solar to entire towns managing wind farms or hybrid microgrids. Yet, what unites them is a commitment to local control, sustainability, and inclusion. As such, energy communities offer a globally relevant foundation for scaling youth-led energy initiatives into sustainable, inclusive systems.
Empowering Youth As Strategic Actors in the Energy Transition
Globally there is no universally agreed definition of “youth”. However, across various global institutions, youth typically span ages 15 to 39, encompassing students, early and mid-career professionals, informal workers, and young parents. Their experiences vary widely, but together they represent a powerful and often overlooked force in shaping energy systems. In energy policy, this diversity must be acknowledged, not as a challenge, but as a strategic strength.
Youth are considered both disproportionately vulnerable to climate and energy challenges and positioned to solve them. Despite this dual role, many face serious barriers: limited access to funding, exclusion from decision-making, and lack of representation in energy governance. Moreover, many live in rented or informal housing, lack access to reliable energy, and are excluded from ownership models that favor landowners or those in formal jobs. Addressing these structural inequities requires empowering youth to shape energy systems that reflect their lived realities, not just technical ideals.
Empowerment in this context should mean more than symbolic inclusion. It should involve enabling youth to lead, to design, implement, and govern energy solutions that respond to their communities’ needs and aspirations. When youth are empowered to shape energy systems, they become co-creators of resilient, inclusive, and sustainable communities not merely as consumers or advocates. Their leadership strengthens energy democracy, brings innovation, and ensures that the transition reflects lived realities. Ultimately, empowering youth as strategic actors is not a symbolic gesture; it is a structural necessity. It ensures that energy transitions are not only technologically sound but more inclusive, more grounded in real community needs, and more sustainable for future generations.
Solar Energy as a Platform for Youth-Led Community Initiatives
Solar energy offers a uniquely accessible entry point for youth-led innovation. Among its many benefits, it is abundant, universally available, and comparatively easier to deploy than wind or hydro power. It requires lower capital investment and technical expertise, while creating jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in installation, maintenance, and digital services. These attributes make solar ideal for youth-led community projects, especially in underserved regions where energy poverty persists.
Solar is particularly adaptable to small-scale, decentralized models perfect for youth cooperatives, startups, and educational programs. In such contexts, young people can bypass unreliable grid infrastructure and design solutions like shared solar gardens, mobile microgrids, and pay-as-you-go systems. These models not only expand access to clean energy but also foster local ownership and resilience.
Importantly, energy poverty among youth is not confined to rural areas. Students, renters (tenants), and those living in informal housing often face limited access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy. Their experiences are frequently overlooked in how energy poverty is defined, measured, and addressed. This lack of recognition reinforces systemic inequities and limits the reach of energy policy and support mechanisms. In this light, solar’s flexibility opens doors for young entrepreneurs, youth-led cooperatives, and student organizations to launch pilot projects, build technical skills, and engage communities in sustainable practices.
Around the world, solar initiatives are increasingly engaging youth, not only as beneficiaries but as emerging contributors to community energy solutions. In South London, Brixton Energy Solar trains youth to manage cooperative solar projects and supports community investment models. In Zambia, the SUNstainable Youth Empowerment program equips young women with solar entrepreneurship skills, integrating gender and sustainability goals. In Indonesia, youth-led nonprofits deploy solar-powered water purification systems in remote villages, combining clean energy with local development.
These examples illustrate the potential for youth to move from participation to leadership. While not all are youth-led, they show how solar energy can serve as a platform for youth empowerment, skill-building, and community engagement. With targeted support, many of these models could evolve into youth-led energy communities, reinforcing sustainability, local ownership, and energy democracy.
Overcoming Barriers and Advancing Youth-Led Solar Communities
Youth-led energy initiatives carry immense potential, not only to accelerate clean energy adoption but to reimagine energy systems through the lens of justice, participation, and innovation. Yet, despite their potential, young people face persistent and systemic barriers that limit their ability to lead and scale community solar solutions.
Access to funding remains a major hurdle, especially for young people without collateral, institutional support, or legal recognition. Many live in rented, informal, or student housing, which often excludes them from energy ownership schemes and community energy models. These structural exclusions deepen youth energy poverty and prevent meaningful participation in the energy transition.
Legal and regulatory frameworks often fail to accommodate youth realities. Energy policies tend to favor established actors and property owners, overlooking the mobility, informality, and precarity that characterize many young people’s lives. Without targeted reforms, youth remain locked out of decision-making spaces and unable to shape the systems that affect them most.
Visibility is another critical barrier. Youth-led projects are frequently underrepresented in national energy strategies, media coverage, and funding programs, making it difficult to scale successful models or influence policy. This invisibility not only undermines equity, it weakens the effectiveness of energy planning by sidelining a generation of innovators and community builders.
Empowering youth is not just about inclusion, it’s a matter of unlocking transformative solutions. When supported to lead, young people bring fresh perspectives, digital fluency, and community-rooted approaches that strengthen energy democracy and resilience. Their leadership helps ensure that energy systems reflect lived realities, not just technical ideals and that the transition is shaped by those who will live longest with its consequences.
To overcome these barriers, governments, institutions, and energy stakeholders must take deliberate, structural and sustained action. This includes:
- Expanding financial support mechanisms, such as targeted subsidies, grants for young renters, and simplified access to energy community memberships.
- Prioritizing underserved regions and marginalized youth populations, including students, informal dwellers, and low-income communities.
- Ensuring youth representation in decision-making processes at local, national, and international levels, enabling them to shape energy governance.
- Removing financial and legal entry barriers to cooperative energy models and community solar participation.
- Recognizing youth as a vulnerable consumer group within energy policy frameworks, ensuring their specific needs and constraints are addressed.
- Investing in education and outreach, equipping young people with the technical and civic skills needed to lead energy initiatives.
- Promoting visibility and recognition of youth-led projects through media, awards, and dedicated funding streams.
The timing is critical. The synergy of climate urgency, rising youth movements, and evolving energy frameworks presents a strategic window for intervention. By embedding youth leadership into the fabric of energy communities, we can ensure that the transition is not only clean, but just, inclusive, and transformative.
Conclusion
Youth-led community solar initiatives are more than technical solutions, they are catalysts for systemic change. By decentralizing energy systems and embedding equity into their design, these initiatives accelerate clean energy adoption while cultivating a generation of climate-conscious leaders. When young people lead, they bring innovation, urgency, and a deep commitment to justice.
This paper has shown that empowering youth within energy communities is not symbolic, it is strategic. Solar energy offers an accessible platform for youth leadership, enabling them to co-create solutions grounded in local realities. But to realize this potential, structural barriers must be addressed. Youth need access to funding, inclusion in policy frameworks, and recognition as legitimate actors in energy governance.
The energy transition is unfolding now. If youth are excluded, we risk replicating old inequities. But if they are empowered, we can build energy systems that are not only clean, but just, inclusive, and resilient. The question is no longer whether young people are ready to lead, it is whether systems are ready to let them.
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