Community Renewable Energy Research Articles

Challenges of renewable energy communities on small Mediterranean islands: A case study on Ponza island

Italy has reconsidered incentives on Renewable Energy Sources (RES) to implement the EU clean energy transition and Renewable Energy Communities (REC). Legislation on RECs shifted the focus of incentives from production to self-consumptions. In this paper, the REC model is studied in a minor island disconnected from the national grid, with strongly seasonal energy load and water demand. This is a typical Mediterranean scenario where energy demand is covered by Diesel gensets and water supply is provided with tankers. The implementation of RES is investigated, exploiting the current REC model of incentives. Two sub-optimal REC configurations were defined using time-dependent simulations on pyRES, an in-house code for energy systems. Results show the economical unfeasibility of REC when there is a poor mix of users. In contrast, REC can achieve economic profitability including industrial demand of a desalination unit (DES). The increase of self-consumption guaranteed from the DES allows to increase the NPV of the community and results in major cuts in CO2 emissions (60% of those related to water supply and 10% of those from Diesel gensets) and a reduction of fuel costs of 22%. This method can be applied to investigate the performance of a REC in a local environment and help stakeholders in planning the expansions of RECs on the territory.

Energy sharing in European renewable energy communities: Impact of regulated charges

The financial benefits of energy sharing within a community is impacted by factors within the control of the community, such as internal rules for energy sharing, and by external factors, such as regulatory frameworks and fiscal policies. While much of the literature on energy sharing has focused on internal rules, there has been less attention paid to the role of external factors, despite their potential policy implications. This study aims to address this gap by examining the range of fiscal measures that can be used to regulate energy sharing in renewable energy communities in 39 countries. The study considers two community arrangements: one in which prosumers share their surplus energy, and another in which consumers shares the energy generated by a collectively-owned PV. The findings suggest that the annual savings from energy sharing in the first arrangement may not be significant enough to justify the formation of the community. In contrast, the cost savings from sharing energy in the second arrangement are much greater, but also more influenced by the fiscal support policies. Based on the results, the study offers policy recommendations for avoiding resistance from stakeholders and aligning their incentives when introducing energy sharing regulation.

Beyond Individual Active Customers: Citizen and Renewable Energy Communities in the European Union

Beyond Individual Active Customers: Citizen and Renewable Energy Communities in the European Union

Multi-objective planning method for renewable energy communities with economic, environmental and social goals

In this paper we propose an innovative multi-objective methodology to optimally size and operate an Energy Community under social, environmental, and economic considerations, where both user preferences demand side management have been incorporated to manage flexibility that can be provided by appliances and Electric Vehicles using a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model. The problem is efficiently decomposed using the A-AUGMECON2 technique that has confirmed its efficiency for an Italian case study. Results show that Renewable Energy Communities enable significant savings even beyond 10%–20% while keeping adequate level of user satisfaction, especially when grid prices are high. Demand response and demand side management confirmed to play a relevant role to achieve higher self sufficiency, economic, and social goals, in agreement to the energy transition targets.

Smart energy systems for renewable energy communities: A comparative analysis of power-to-X strategies for improving energy self-consumption

Renewable energy communities (RECs) represent the new scheme for promoting the distributed renewable generation, which must be managed to maximise the local energy self-consumption. The aim of this paper is to assess and discuss strengths and weaknesses of small-scale sector coupling strategies in residential RECs by means of a comparative analysis of their applications. Different power-to-X strategies have been applied to twenty-seven REC configurations. The systems have been separately simulated by means of the EnergyPLAN software. Power-to-heat strategy turns out to be the most cost-effective solution to integrate the RES excess, however, its potential often is not enough to fully accommodate it. Power-to-vehicle has low infrastructure costs, but its limit depends on the electric vehicle penetration and citizens’ participation. Exploiting the electric vehicle batteries is always more cost-effective than installing stationary batteries. The competitiveness of power-to-power is extremely linked to the REC electrification level. Power-to-gas is promising in high-RES excess conditions, but rarely represents the best solution due to current high electrolyser costs. The implementation of energy storage systems is crucial for improving the local self-consumption and the cross-sector integration is a better solution in energy, economic and environmental terms than focusing only on the electricity sector.

Renewable Hydrogen Energy Communities layouts towards off-grid operation

Solar hydrogen technology, i.e. producing green hydrogen by electrolysis fed by solar panels, is gaining attention as studies show it can compete with traditional electric batteries. Contemporary, the interest in the realization of Renewable Energy Community driven by the recent adoption in almost all the EU Countries of the RED II Directive is increasing. To match innovative technologies and new business models making the energy demand and the production closer in terms of time and space, the feasibility of Renewable Hydrogen Energy Community is explored. To determine the profitability of these solutions and size and operate the energy system, energy and economic analyses are needed as well as the optimization of its performance. A building complex with 180 kWp of PhotoVoltaics was studied using hourly real data on energy loads and production. Storage capacities ranging from 500 to 2000 kWh were simulated for hydrogen and electric battery options. The cost of investment and operation was also analyzed for the years 2020, 2030, and 2040 to evaluate changes in technology readiness level as well as accounting for the strong changes in electricity tariff due to the geopolitical issues effects on the market. The analysis was conducted using the DECAPLAN™ digital platform, which employs a mixed integer linear programming solver. Finally, the dispatch on hourly base has been compared for the same two months in 2019, 2020 and 2021 corresponding to pre, during and after pandemic restrictions.

Key Aspects and Challenges in the Implementation of Energy Communities

Energy communities (ECs) are an important tool towards a fair energy transition. Hence, the European Union (EU) has positioned ECs at the centre of its energy strategy and the foreseen transformation of its energy system. This paper aims to give an overview of key aspects and challenges for the implementation of the EC concept. Firstly, the regulatory framework is examined with a focus on the new definitions for ECs introduced by the EU, Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) and Citizen Energy Communities (CECs). Secondly, examples of established ECs and their main objectives are mentioned. Additionally, based on the identified challenges and requirements of establishing ECs, the key technologies that are implemented or have the potential to be deployed in an EC are examined, as well as innovative cross-cutting services that are optimally suited to be integrated in an EC. Moreover, the data management challenges linked to some of these technologies are considered. Finally, an overview of actual or potential financing schemes to support the EC development is given. Overall, the analysis highlighted the regulatory, technical and financial aspects and challenges that ECs are facing and the need to address them so that the EC concept is effective and successful. The main challenges identified for each of these aspects are the regulatory compliance with the legal framework, the data management dimension when innovative technological concepts are adopted and the financing of new projects.

Towards Self-Sustainable Island Grids through Optimal Utilization of Renewable Energy Potential and Community Engagement in Energies

Towards Self-Sustainable Island Grids through Optimal Utilization of Renewable Energy Potential and Community Engagement in Energies

Towards failed renewable energy communities? Activist attempts to change market conditions in the Danish wind energy market

Denmark is known for its bottom-up, participatory approach to developing renewable energy communities, and yet wind power has become ‘big business’ in Denmark and other countries, a market affair for large, private renewable energy companies. Drawing on the performative perspective on markets, this paper examines a non-governmental organization's (NGO's) attempts to innovate the market for wind power deployment in Denmark, to include renewable energy communities. Based on document analysis as well as qualitative analysis of interviews and observations, conducted from 2015 to 2020, we highlight what has shaped a paradigm shift in wind power development – from a cooperative and community-based approach to one based on market competition. With this as a backdrop, we analyse two ‘episodes’ – the first one took place before the introduction of competition-based tenders, and the second one occurred after it – where the NGO proposes two alternative market devices to reframe the market for wind power production, i.e., an alternative ownership model, and alternative evaluation criteria for winning bids in the tendering scheme. Both attempts failed and are illustrative of how agency is stymied in, and through, the dynamic interactions taking place within the market assemblage. Our findings show how market devices matter, i.e., how opportunities for successful collective action expand or contract depending on how the market is framed. By directing attention to market devices, we emphasize the ways in which politics and political action are made possible, augmenting research on the power and politics of energy transitions.

Sixth-Grade Students as Sustainable Town Designers

Abstract This article reports on a 6th-grade society-centred design activity, where students designed a new sustainable town with the goal of at least 50% renewable energy sources. The activity addressed both learning about and learning through design, together with designing for new directions. Through a case study methodology, students’ learning about design was apparent in their iterative processes of problem scoping, idea generation and modification, balancing of benefits and trade-offs, and reflections on and improvements of design features. Disciplinary content knowledge and applications emerged as students worked with renewable energy data and community needs, applied spatial reasoning in positioning town features, and considered budgetary constraints in reaching their “best” design. Students’ responses to how they applied mathematics and science included using the grid coordinates in their planning, meeting given constraints and conditions, coordinating the various town features, using properties of renewable energy sources, and taking into account the nature of the landscape. Reference to empathy and aesthetics were included in the students’ responses. Their design critiques revealed how they could identify positive and negative aspects of their own and their peers’ designs.

Modelling renewable energy communities: assessing the impact of different configurations, technologies and types of participants

BackgroundEnergy communities (ECs) have emerged as a solution to support governments mitigating climate change and comply with decarbonization goals, while introducing end-users on the energy value chain. In this paradigm, citizens have an active role in reducing electricity demand from the utility grid, by generating, sharing and/or trading locally generated renewable energy, such as solar energy. However, the economic and environmental outputs of energy communities are dependent on a variety of factors, such as technology features (renewable energy generation, existence of flexible equipment and/or energy storage systems), types of participants (consumers and prosumers with different electricity intensity and load profiles), and electricity sharing/trading agreements. As such, assessing the impact these will have on delivering benefits to the energy community and its participants is of paramount importance.MethodsThis work models different energy communities’ design typologies in Lisbon, Portugal considering different types of consumers with heterogenous electricity demand profiles and willingness to participate, multiple technology deployment scenarios (solar systems installation, batteries, and electric vehicles), and electricity trading (collective self-consumption versus peer-to-peer trading).ResultsResults demonstrate community electricity cost savings are up to 42%, with self-sufficiency rate up to 12.5%, which is considerably low due to the participation of high demanding sectors (such as industry or retail). At participants’ individual level, electricity costs savings can reach 48% and 53%, for residential consumers and prosumers, respectively, while for high-demanding participants are slightly lower: 43% for hotel, 44% for retail, 13% for industry and 5% for university. Individual self-sufficiency rates register highest results for the residential prosumers (35% for PV prosumers, 28% for PV + electric vehicles and 54% with PV + batteries) while for other participants results fall between 6% (retail) and 26% (industry).ConclusionsWe conclude that for ECs deployment, individual PV self-consumption assets are not sufficient, thus greater PV sizes and higher adoption rates should be considered, according to consumer and prosumers shares. The share/trade of PV surplus, paired with competitive aggregation tariffs results in positive economic and environmental outputs, for the majority of both consumers and prosumers.

Implementing European Union Provisions and Enabling Frameworks for Renewable Energy Communities in Nine Countries: Progress, Delays, and Gaps

With the Clean Energy for all Europeans legislative package, the European Union (EU) aimed to put consumers “at the heart” of EU energy policy. The recast of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) acknowledged the importance of energy communities for the energy transition and introduced new provisions for renewable energy communities (RECs), empowering them to participate in the energy market. This article analyses the progress of transposing and implementing key provisions of the RED II that apply to RECs in nine European countries and focuses on timeliness and completeness of transposition. It comprises both a qualitative and quantitative assessment covering (1) the definition, rights, and market activities of RECs; (2) key elements of enabling frameworks; and (3) consideration of REC specificities in support schemes for renewable energy. The analysis shows considerable variation in transposition performance between the analysed countries. The authors investigate the reasons for this variation and relate them to findings of European implementation and compliance research. Key factors identified include actor-related and capacity-related factors, institutional fit, and characteristics of the RED II itself. Future research in this field needs multi-faceted avenues and should pay particular attention to the influence of national governments and incumbents, not only in the transposition process, but already in upstream policy formulation at the European level.

Understanding citizen investment in renewable energy communities

This research investigates factors driving citizen participation in renewable energy communities (RECs) using demographically representative surveys including a discrete choice experiment on attributes of RECs and a contingent valuation experiment on intended amounts of investment in RECs in France, Germany, and Poland. We investigate, in particular, whether municipalities can incentivize citizens to invest in RECs by offering to match their investments and examine the effect of small probabilities of losing the entire investment. Further, we analyze the role of preferences, capabilities, and social factors that have not or only scarcely been studied in the context of RECs. Our results provide evidence that matching by the municipality has a positive effect on citizen investment. Further, ruling out even small risks of losing the entire investment may substantially increase citizen participation in RECs. The experiments suggest that investments in RECs are related to willingness to take risks and willingness to take losses. Individual capabilities (i.e. financial literacy, experience), social norms, place identity, and trust in local government also seem to spur citizen investment in RECs.

Renewable Energy Communities in the Energy Transition Context

Economic, social, and environmental sustainability is becoming increasingly important in territorialdevelopment policies in Europe and internationally. Among the sustainable development goals, the theme ofthe energy transition is particularly important, which translates not only into a move away from energyfrom fossil fuels in favor of renewable ones but also into an improvement in energy efficiency linked toenergy production and greater awareness of energy consumption by citizens. To achieve a paradigm ofsustainable development, combating the problem of resource scarcity and biodiversity loss, as well as theunsustainability of today's consumption and production systems, the Renewable Energy Communities (CER)can be a suitable model to support urban space redevelopment projects. Actions that aim to recover the pre-existing building heritage to give new life to abandoned areas are increasingly necessary for the protection ofthe environment. This encourages the propensity to act responsibly, promoting virtuous circles for theterritories and communities of reference. This work aims to analyze and understand the actual developmentof the eco-friendly model of Energy Communities, understanding its real benefits. In particular, the casestudy of the Energy Community of East Naples is reported which, through the involvement of citizens andbusinesses of the territory, can produce, consume and exchange energy with a view to self-consumption andcollaboration.

A Roadmap for the Design, Operation and Monitoring of Renewable Energy Communities in Italy

Renewable energy communities (RECs) aim at achieving economic, environmental, and social benefits for members and for society. This paper presents a roadmap for the design, operation, and monitoring of renewable energy communities in Italy, fundamental to guide and orient any stakeholder involved in the decision-making process of a REC. The roadmap is inspired by the Deming Cycle, also known as Plan-Do-Check-Act, which provides a framework for continuous improvement and standardization of the procedures. To demonstrate the practical application of the roadmap, a real case study is presented for Italian energy communities, making full adoption of data derived from official databases and using a real urban district as a case study. The findings of phase I in the “do” stage of the roadmap indicate that the REC could lead to a decrease in carbon emissions of roughly 38% and could support 51 to 67 families through REC’s revenues, depending on the installed PV capacity. Furthermore, both physical self-consumption and virtual self-consumption schemes assist in the sustainable transition of the built environment, where consumers have a significant impact on the electrical markets. Therefore, these results validate the roadmap’s effectiveness in promoting an informed design and implementation of RECs while guiding energy, social, and political decisions.

The Role of Organised Civil Society in the Implementation of the Renewable Energy Transition and Renewable Energy Communities: A Qualitative Assessment

The study aims to understand the relationship between organised civil society and the energy transition. It is carried out by using a mixed qualitative method combining a systematic literature review, identifying the role of organised civil society within the energy transition internationally, and 18 interviews focusing on the development of Renewable Energy Communities in Italy and the potential position held by organised civil society in these collective actions which are transforming the energy system. The results demonstrate that such actors can contribute to the transition process as well as to the establishment of a new virtuous ecosystem.

Photovoltaic-green roof energy communities can uphold the European Green Deal: Probabilistic cost-benefit analyses help discern economically convenient scenarios

The new roadmap of the European Union (EU), the European Green Deal, aims at tackling climate adaptation, energy, biodiversity, and pollution challenges. To contribute to such aim, the latest EU Renewable Energy Directive defines for the first time renewable energy communities. Among them, Photovoltaic-Green roof Energy Communities (PGECs) emerge as a potential option in urban areas. This paper investigates whether and under which conditions PGECs are capable to meet the objectives of the European Green Deal in an economically convenient manner. Since some conditions are context-specific, this research is showcased using a case study (Luxembourg). First, European legislation was reviewed to determine the suitable legal model for PGECs. Second, a systematic literature review helped identifying lifecycle costs and benefits of photovoltaic-green roofs and their value ranges. Third, a model for probabilistic social and private cost-benefit analyses was developed and tailored to Luxembourg. Lastly, Scenario Discovery was used to identify the ranges of input values leading to desirable net present values. Results show that PGECs can contribute to achieving multiple objectives of the European Green Deal in an economically convenient manner. From the societal perspective, PGECs are found to be economically convenient for any cost, benefit, and discount rate in the case study. From the private perspective, PGECs remain convenient in 62% of the scenarios, with green roofs’ installation cost and electricity generation benefit playing pivotal roles. This paper presents a rare combination of probabilistic cost-benefit analyses and scenario discovery, It supports policymakers designing incentive schemes for PGECs, and can be replicated in other countries.

Renewable Energy Community’s Barriers and Impact on Centralised Energy Production

Major changes are taking place in the energy sector. In order to achieve climate neutrality, it is crucial to increase energy production from renewable energy sources. One way to accomplish this is to establish energy communities and cooperatives, which require optimal development and expansion solutions. Energy cooperatives are, by definition, community projects whose primary goal is to generate electricity and heat for their own use as well as for sale and distribution. The main reasons for establishing such communities are to reduce costs and the negative impact on the environment, as well as to democratise and decentralise production, reducing reliance on larger producers. This kind of collaborative effort also allows people who lack the necessary funds and knowledge to participate in the production of renewable energy. The goal of energy communities is to use energy produced primarily from renewable energy sources; the easiest way to do this is to use solar panels, but there are also other options. Although the European Union has launched several programmes to increase the number of energy communities, there are several barriers that prevent them from being established. In the conditions where energy communities are connected to largescale energy systems, it is also important to assess how energy communities affect centralised energy production and overall energy efficiency. This study provides a thorough analysis of the barriers to establishing energy communities as well as their impact on centralised energy production and overall energy production efficiency.

A Deep Learning-Driven Self-Conscious Distributed Cyber-Physical System for Renewable Energy Communities.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming various domains, including smart energy management, by enabling the integration of complex digital and physical components in distributed cyber-physical systems (DCPSs). The design of DCPSs has so far been focused on performance-related, non-functional requirements. However, with the growing power consumption and computation expenses, sustainability is becoming an important aspect to consider. This has led to the concept of energy-aware DCPSs, which integrate conventional non-functional requirements with additional attributes for sustainability, such as energy consumption. This research activity aimed to investigate and develop energy-aware architectural models and edge/cloud computing technologies to design next-generation, AI-enabled (and, specifically, deep-learning-enhanced), self-conscious IoT-extended DCPSs. Our key contributions include energy-aware edge-to-cloud architectural models and technologies, the orchestration of a (possibly federated) edge-to-cloud infrastructure, abstractions and unified models for distributed heterogeneous virtualized resources, innovative machine learning algorithms for the dynamic reallocation and reconfiguration of energy resources, and the management of energy communities. The proposed solution was validated through case studies on optimizing renewable energy communities (RECs), or energy-aware DCPSs, which are particularly challenging due to their unique requirements and constraints; in more detail, in this work, we aim to define the optimal implementation of an energy-aware DCPS. Moreover, smart grids play a crucial role in developing energy-aware DCPSs, providing a flexible and efficient power system integrating renewable energy sources, microgrids, and other distributed energy resources. The proposed energy-aware DCPSs contribute to the development of smart grids by providing a sustainable, self-consistent, and efficient way to manage energy distribution and consumption. The performance demonstrates our approach's effectiveness for consumption and production (based on RMSE and MAE metrics). Our research supports the transition towards a more sustainable future, where communities adopting REC principles become key players in the energy landscape.

Quantifying the benefits of shared battery in a DSO-energy community cooperation

Local energy communities are forming as a way for prosumers and consumers to invest in distributed renewable energy sources, community storage and share electricity. Meanwhile, several distribution grids have voltage problems at certain hours of the year. Local energy communities consisting of generation and storage units might be valuable flexible assets that the distribution system operator (DSO) can make use of. This article aims to study how a battery in an energy community can provide services to the distribution grid, by creating a linear optimisation model which includes power flow constraints and a battery degradation model. First, we investigate how the battery operation of an energy community impacts the voltage in the nearby buses. We find that when including the degradation model, the voltage limits are violated much less than when not including the degradation model. Next, we investigate how the battery operation differs when the energy community cooperates with an active DSO to share the battery use, and quantify how much the DSO should remunerate the energy community. We find that the energy community should get 15 € per year due to an increase in electricity and degradation costs, which equals an increase of 0.12%, compared to when the community is not providing a service. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to determine which parameters are more important to consider. We find that voltage violations in the grid are sensitive to the battery replacement cost, electric vehicle charging peak and the average spot price, while the remuneration from the DSO is sensitive to the battery replacement cost. For small battery sizes and a low power-to-energy ratio, the community is not able to improve the voltage at all hours of the year.