Energy communities are a part of the EU clean energy strategy package. They enable community owned micro production of energy, where members of the energy community can share the benefits of their common infrastructure. Energy communities have yet not been included in the Finnish legislation, but once accomplished, the full potential of energy communities is enabled. Energy communities motivate the members to influence the way their consumed energy is produced, enabling the citizens to become active participants in the energy system. The objective of this master’s thesis was to find out the technical and economical potential of energy communities in Finland as well as to identify various restrictions and obstacles related to the activities of energy communities. Potential was determined by estimating the roof area of all block of flats in Finland and the proportion suitable for solar panels. The results showed that, as an economical potential, energy communities focused on block of flats have significant growth potential in annual electricity production – energy communities in block of flats can correspond for 0.5 % of total electricity production in Finland. Currently solar energy production in Finland is 0.2 % of all energy production. A workshop focused on energy communities was organized to identify the restrictions and obstacles. Stakeholders, with expertise in small-scale production and energy communities, were invited. Various obstacles hamper the full potential of energy communities today. Four different categories categories emerged that should be considered in the near future: taxation, electricity market regulation, energy community contracts and metering.