In many municipalities, provinces and regions, local sustainable energy provisions have already been set in motion or realised. Sustainable (collective) energy provisions are set to play an even greater role in the composition of an area. However, new initiatives encounter numerous problems in the existing market structure, a framework determined by relevant legislation and regulations, the commercial energy market and contract market. Such legal frameworks often prove restrictive in regards to integrating the environmental and energy domains. Project IRIS stands for “Institutional and regulatory innovation to support local smart energy provisions” and is focused on establishing legal frameworks that offer the best opportunities to develop local sustainable energy provisions. The research will result in new, innovative proposals to revise existing frameworks. In the short term, concrete proposals will be developed and put forward aimed at removing the most restrictive elements from the current regulations. The most important result will follow: a proposal for the structural adjustment of legislation and regulations, that is also geared towards the local, decentralised production of energy.
