Abstract
The co-evolution of techno-economic, societal, environmental and political-institutional systems towards sustainable energy transitions is largely influencing the disruptive reconfiguration of the energy sector across the globe. At the heart of this disruption is the peer-to-peer energy sharing concept. Nonetheless, peer-to-peer energy sharing business models are yet very little put into practice due to the rigid energy market structures and lagging regulatory frameworks across the globe. In view of this, this paper presents a novel peer-to-peer energy sharing business model developed specifically for the context of the Portuguese energy market, which was successfully trialed in three pilot projects in Portugal under real market conditions. All things considered, the novelty of this paper lies on an innovative approach for the collaborative use of the surplus electricity generation from photovoltaic systems between end-users under the same low voltage/medium voltage transformer substation, which resulted in direct financial benefits to them. While absent deregulation obstructs the implementation of effective peer-to-peer energy sharing markets in Portugal, such demonstration projects are essential to challenge restrictive regulatory frameworks that do not keep pace with techno-economic and societal innovations, thus helping to build the emerging consumer-centric energy regime and disrupt the old one.
Highlights
The growing affordability of distributed generation and energy storage technologies combined with the evolution of new information & communications technology (ICT)systems is largely influencing the disruptive transformation and reconfiguration of the energy sector across the globe [1]
The main idea behind the proposed business model is that the surplus renewable generation that is locally produced and distributed among the low voltage P2P energy sharing community should be exempted to bear the costs associated with higher voltage levels
While absent deregulation obstructs the implementation of effective P2P energy sharing markets in Portugal, such demonstration projects are essential to challenge restrictive legislative frameworks in Portugal, such demonstration projects are essential to challenge restrictive legislative frameworks and policies that do not keep up with the pace of technological and socioeconomic innovations, and policies that do not keep up with the pace of technological and socioeconomic innovations, fomenting fruitful discussions about incremental change, and about transition policies fomenting fruitful discussions about incremental change, and about transition policies that can be exceptionally transformative and complement existing ones
Summary
The growing affordability of distributed generation and energy storage technologies (automotive and stationary) combined with the evolution of new information & communications technology (ICT)systems is largely influencing the disruptive transformation and reconfiguration of the energy sector across the globe [1]. A growing number of electricity consumers are becoming prosumers—which refers to those who fulfil changing roles as both producers and consumers of electricity [3,4] This shift towards smarter and more distributed energy systems aligned with the emergence of consumer-centric markets allow the development of innovative value streams within the energy. At the heart of such innovative value streams is the peer-to-peer (P2P) energy sharing concept, which refers to flexible, independent and direct exchanges of electricity between grid-connected peers [3,5] Under this new energy market structure, end-users are entitled to self-organise as energy communities in autonomous, voluntary and collective ways, within which they are entitled to generate, consume, store and supply renewable energy directly between each other or in all suitable markets on a level playing field with other market actors without the need for a middle-man to carry out these transactions on their behalf. This, as a result, empowers them to actively provide energy services that were once solely provided by conventional players in energy markets [6]
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