Abstract
The trend of decentralization of energy services has given rise to community energy systems. These energy communities aim to maximize the self-consumption of local renewable energy generated and stored in assets that are typically connected to low-voltage (LV) distribution networks. Energy community schemes often involve jointly owned assets such as community-owned solar photo-voltaic panels (PVs), wind turbines and/or shared battery storage. This raises the question of how these assets should be controlled in real-time, and how the energy outputs from these jointly owned assets should be shared fairly among heterogeneous community members. Crucially, such real-time control and fair sharing of energy must also consider the technical constraints of the community, such as the local LV network characteristics, voltage limits and power ratings of electric cables and transformers. In this paper, we design and analyze a heuristic-based battery control algorithm that considers the influence of battery life degradation, and the resultant increase in local renewable energy consumption within local operating constraints of the LV network. We provide a model that first studies the techno-economic benefits of community-owned versus individually-owned energy assets considering the network/grid constraints. Then, using the methodology and principles from cooperative game theory, we propose a redistribution model for benefits in a community based on the marginal contribution of each household. The results from our study demonstrate that the redistribution mechanism is fairer and computationally tractable compared to the existing state-of-the-art methods. Thus, our methodology is more scalable with respect to modeling the economic sharing of joint assets in community energy systems.
Highlights
A CCESS to affordable renewable energy resources (RES) represents a key element of an inclusive energy transition, represented as one of the core UN sustainable development goals [1]
In order to assess the benefits from installing various assets including a comprehensive model of battery degradation, we propose an approach based on real time-series data of a community, and compare the benefits provided by community-owned assets with the benefits expected from individually-owned assets, considering operational network constraints
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS we present the results in two parts: first, we discuss the financial benefits obtained from communityowned assets and individually-owned assets considering the network constraints, and compare it with the case without network constraints
Summary
A CCESS to affordable renewable energy resources (RES) represents a key element of an inclusive energy transition, represented as one of the core UN sustainable development goals [1]. Enhancing the use of locally-generated renewable energy can reduce the energy system contribution to climate change [2], achieve decarbonization [3], and speed up the transition to a low carbon economy [4]. This has led to an exponential growth in the deployment of RES. A key challenge with RES generators is that they are intermittent, small-sized and distributed across the distribution network. They are gradually transforming networks into active and two-way energy flow networks, crucially challenging the way they are traditionally designed and managed. Voltage out-of-bounds excursions (i.e. temporary fluctuations of voltage outside safe accepted limits, often determined by regulation) are an example of the new challenges for the distribution system operators (DSOs) face when managing the network in real-time
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