Energy communities are a new stakeholder in the energy system, different from private investors and public enterprises. They are considered as a vehicle for enhanced civic participation, a platform for citizens to engage in transforming the energy system in their respective countries and benefit from energy transition. Through energy community projects citizens, local businesses and local authorities plan and implement collective energy production, management and energy saving projects. In order for them to develop it is essential to create an environment that recognises their specific characteristics and supports them appropriately, so that they can bring out and develop benefits for the local communities, in which they are created and operate. These benefits are usually economic and environmental, but they are also social. While the environmental and economic impact of sustainable energy projects is well recognised and largely measurable, it is difficult to make the same claim about the social impact.