Community Energy Research Articles

Community energy in Italy through the lens of social innovation

Sustainable urban regeneration, in particular with respect to energy, has become a very important issue for local communities currently as a result of the Green New Deal (GND). Renewable energy in domestic consumption is being used to initiate a transition to cleaner energy and limit environmental damage. Through the lens of social innovation, this paper highlights the continuous challenges faced in the transition to lower carbon energy by investigating the opportunity to change the classical top-down management approach to a bottom-up process. The paper fills a gap in the literature by presenting a regional overview of recent Italian community energy sector developments and outlines a number of national best practices in renewable community energy innovation.

Community energy in Italy through the lens of social innovation

Sustainable urban regeneration, in particular with respect to energy, has become a very important issue for local communities currently as a result of the Green New Deal (GND). Renewable energy in domestic consumption is being used to initiate a transition to cleaner energy and limit environmental damage. Through the lens of social innovation, this paper highlights the continuous challenges faced in the transition to lower carbon energy by investigating the opportunity to change the classical top-down management approach to a bottom-up process. The paper fills a gap in the literature by presenting a regional overview of recent Italian community energy sector developments and outlines a number of national best practices in renewable community energy innovation.

Robust optimization of community energy sharing considering source-load uncertainty and demand response

Community energy consumption is a crucial aspect of the overall societal energy consumption landscape. The allocation rate of distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems within communities is steadily increasing. However, managing and optimizing the consumption of PV resources while mitigating the impact of their inherent randomness and volatility, along with minimizing electricity costs, presents a significant challenge. This paper proposes a mechanism for community energy sharing that utilizes rooftop PV systems, energy storage systems, and bi-directional electric vehicles. To achieve the goal of finding the minimum cost of electricity in the worst scheduling scenarios, a two-stage robust optimization model is established. This model considers the two-sided uncertainty of source and load as well as flexible load demand response. The simulation outcomes prove the proposed method's efficacy in substantially mitigating residential electricity costs and enhancing PV utilization. Notably, during peak summer demand, a substantial 24.78% reduction in electricity costs was achieved, while PV utilization witnessed a significant 16.52% increase.

Community energy and socio-technical infrastructure resilience: analysis of mini/micro hydro power projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract In 2014–15, Pakistan’s provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) launched a decentralised power generation initiative, installing over 356 small hydro power units to provide electricity to over 2.5 million people in its mountainous regions. This initiative built on the foundation of prior community-based mini/micro hydro-power projects (MHPPs) deployed in the region since the 1980s that have experienced mixed success; by 2020, over 150 units were non-operational. This paper investigates the socio-technical factors influencing the success and failure of these projects, focusing on outcomes and processes integral to community MHPPs. The study analyses the critical implications of MHPPs for socio-economic welfare, gender equity and democratic governance through extensive primary research including field observations at 40 sites, questionnaire surveys with community residents in three in-depth case-studies, and expert interviews with local policymakers and project developers. Analysis shows that electricity provision from MHPPs has had positive outcomes for the communities in terms of improved education, poverty alleviation and economic growth, alongside enhanced access to information and gains in women’s entrepreneurship and health. Nonetheless, the study also identifies significant shortcomings in the processes involved in community MHPPs related to inadequate technical assessments, monitoring, and evaluation, as well as challenges arising from undemocratic governance mechanisms and inequitable participation. By teasing out the multiple socio-technical dimensions that shape infrastructure resilience of MHPPs in KPK, this paper contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable community energy projects and informs policy for decentralised energy transitions that ensure democratic alignment and inclusive design.

Metal-Organic Frameworks as Electrode Materials for Lithium-Ion Battery

Over recent decades, Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have distinguished themselves as a unique class of porous materials due to their adaptable surface and structural properties. This versatility has made MOFs highly relevant across various fields, including drug delivery, gas separation, catalysis, and sensor technology. Additionally, their conductive properties have made them promising candidates for use in energy storage systems like high-energy-density batteries and supercapacitors. MOFs are particularly noted for their role in the development of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and supercapacitors, where they serve as both anode and cathode materials. The ability to fine-tune MOFs at a molecular level allows for precise control over their structure and chemistry, enhancing their functionality in energy storage applications. This control facilitates superior electronic and ionic transport within MOFs, which is critical during the charging and discharging cycles of LIBs. This review delves into the various synthetic methods used to develop specific MOF structures, focusing on their implementation within LIBs to improve cyclic stability and discharge capacity. Recent advancements in MOF technology as anode and cathode materials are explored, providing insights into how these developments can optimize reaction conditions and design choices within the battery development community and broader electrochemical energy storage sectors. The aim is to highlight how MOFs’ inherent characteristics can be leveraged to enhance the performance and efficiency of energy storage devices.

Dynamic Net Metering for Energy Communities

Dynamic Net Metering for Energy Communities

Viability of Green Hydrogen Production at Benguela Wind Energy Community Project in Lüderitz, Namibia

Viability of Green Hydrogen Production at Benguela Wind Energy Community Project in Lüderitz, Namibia

Enabling Sustainable Energy Communities in ASEAN: A Systematic Approach to P2P Energy Transactions on Matakus Island Using IoT and Blockchain

Abstract This paper addresses the need for energy diversification and sustainable development in the ASEAN region by proposing a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading system. PowerChain, a peer-to-peer energy trading platform, is tailored as the designated medium for implementation. PowerChain harnesses the capabilities of blockchain technology and utilizes MQTT and HTTP protocols to ensure security, transparency, and user-IoT interaction. A case study was conducted on Matakus Island, a rural area in Indonesia with high solar power generation potential and a suitable demographic for the study. Currently reliant on diesel-based power generation, the island serves as an ideal location to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of transitioning to a RE-based P2P energy trading system. Based on simulations using 2 types of load and generation from peer providers, it was found that unused energy for type 1 was 815.9 kWh/year and for type 2 was 821.05 kWh/year. So the total unused energy from 10 peer providers on Matakus Island that can be transacted on the Powerchain platform is 1,636.95 kWh/year. This energy can meet the needs of Matakus Island for 93.7 days.In the platform simulation, three experiments were carried out, namely, single type transactions, multiple type transactions, and rejection of energy requests. From these three experiments, Powerchain was able to perform well, where the seller was successfully selected based on the closest distance, and if the closest selection could not be fulfilled, the seller would come from several nearby buyers. And when a selected peer is rejected, the existing algorithm can search for and select a replacement peer.The integrated approach presented in this study demonstrates the viability of using IoT and blockchain technologies to transform the energy market structure and accelerate the transition towards cleaner and more efficient energy systems in ASEAN.

More than deliberation is needed: Potential for agonistic moments in community wind energy planning

Although community project planning is widely understood as crucial to equitable wind energy infrastructure planning, involved members of the public nevertheless perceive such participatory interventions as merely pseudo-participatory. Drawing on agonistic planning literature, we argue that this disposition towards tokenism can only be tackled with a (re)politization of community project planning practices. This includes an explicit (re)integration and cultivation of dissent and the potential overthrow of traditionally consensus-oriented formats that follow the deliberative paradigm. For radically political community energy project planning, however, public discourses must be fluid and participants must be open towards dissent, which largely contradicts the typical postures of a deliberative citizen who is supposed to argue in a rational and objective way, using the best arguments to convince others. To examine the feasibility of agonistic approaches for community wind energy planning, we conducted a quantitative discourse analysis on the data set of a large regional survey of an on-going wind energy planning project in Switzerland. We focused on estimating the degree of hegemony of public wind energy discourses and the willingness of residents to engage in participatory settings that can facilitate radically political community project planning (e.g., substantive participation settings). Our results show that for planning individual wind energy projects, the potential for agonistic planning approaches is low, not only because the discourses are already too hegemonic, but also because there is no real willingness to engage in radically political community wind energy project planning. In the context of early, comprehensive, and integrated community planning, however, agonistic approaches could provide the ground for open and innovative participatory planning of renewable energies.

Cooperative V2G-enabled vehicle-to-vehicle sharing in energy and reserve markets: A coalitional approach

The dynamics of electric vehicles (EVs) charging significantly influence the current power system dynamics. However, with advancements in battery technology and charging infrastructure, EVs can also serve as energy storage systems through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. This opens up possibilities for novel approaches, such as a coalition-based V2G-enabled vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) energy and reserve sharing mechanism. Unlike traditional transactive energy models that often under-utilize EVs due to mismatches with smaller renewable outputs and peak loads, the proposed cooperative V2V sharing mechanism aims to maximize the use of EVs’ charging and discharging capabilities. It forms a grand coalition of EV users to optimize energy and reserve market participation. The model introduces mathematical formulations to describe how EVs collaborate in both energy and reserve markets. It ensures fairness and stability in pay allocations among users within the cooperative framework. The theoretical foundation includes proof of balance in the coalition approach and a two-stage imputation method to achieve fair and optimal payoff distribution. This minimizes incentives for users to defect from the coalition, ensuring stability. To address scalability challenges inherent in coalition formation problems, a decomposition algorithm is proposed. This algorithm enhances efficiency in solving problems that grow exponentially with the number of users. The effectiveness and superiority of this approach are validated through applications to various community energy systems of different sizes. The proposed plan can increase 22.21% of the total payoff in 10-users case and 22.39% in 30-users case. The computation time scales near-linearly with the number of users, although the computation scales exponentially with it. These demonstrations highlight its capability in modeling and solving complex energy sharing scenarios.

Globalization, Urbanization, Energy Consumption, Economic Expansion and Industrialization: Pathway to Tanzania’s Environmental Sustainability Agenda 2030

This study delves into a comprehensive analysis of interconnectedness between globalization, urbanization, energy consumption, industrialization, and economic expansion as the pathway towards Tanzania’s 2030 environmental sustainability agenda utilizing time series data spanning from 1990 to 2022. This data was sourced from the World Bank and KOF Swiss Institute. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was utilized in this study. Unit root test, ARDL bound cointegration test, Akaike Information Criterion, Serial correlation test, Heteroscedasticity test, and Jarque-Bera test were used for data analysis. The study revealed that the lag of environmental sustainability, industrialization, and economic expansion affects CO2 emissions in the short term by 0.516%, 0.153%, and -0.179% respectively. The study further shows that urbanization increases CO2 emissions by 1.02 percent in the long run, while globalization reduces CO2 by 0.298 percent, which consequently improves environmental sustainability. ECM (Error Correction Mechanisms) suggests 54% speed adjustment of environmental sustainability within one year after shocks on explanatory variables. The study further recommends an appropriate policy that will encourage conservation of the environment, monitoring and evaluation, technology and innovation of green-friendly energy sources, workshops, and community inclusion on matters concerning the environment

Integration of photovoltaic panels and biomass-fuelled CHP in an Italian renewable energy community

This study presents the first attempt to explore the technical and financial feasibility of combining incentives for Italian Renewable Energy Communities (REC) with those for high-efficiency cogeneration. The community has local wooden biomass availability and was assembled around two prosumers: an industrial laundry with biomass-fuelled CHP and a school with photovoltaic panels. Other members include residential users. Electric loads were derived from available quarter-hour meters and electric bills. Thermal demand for the laundry was reconstructed from an energy audit. First, the CHP optimal mode of operation was selected among the two suggested by the manufacturer (matching the electric or the thermal load), providing energy, financial and environmental performance in both scenarios. Then the photovoltaic system of the school was sized. Finally, an optimal number of users was selected using a genetic algorithm, with financial performance of the REC as objective functions. Energy, economic and environmental impact performance of prosumers and REC are discussed, finding that the optimal configuration reduces CO2 emissions by 722 tons/year, with further 1360 tons/year coming from biomass combustion. In an optimal REC configuration members cut 250 €/year of electric bills, with an overall performance of 21 % in valorization of shared energy, while a social-focused REC can increase its NPV from 233 to 769 k€. The scenario can be applied to other prosumers with similar thermal demand and can be replicated or adjusted to local requirements.

A scalable and normalized reef status index for assessing fish trophic structure reveals conservation gaps

The trophic structure of ecosystems, reflecting biomass distribution across different levels, is paramount for understanding energy dynamics and community assemblages in marine environments. Typically, ecosystems devoid of external energy influx exhibit a bottom-heavy trophic pyramid, yet higher biomass systems often display a top heavy or concave distribution. Such structures are susceptible to alterations due to species turnover, trophic cascades, and anthropogenic impacts, particularly the phenomenon of ’Fishing down’ the food web. Recognizing the trophic structure as a simplified yet potent indicator, we identify the necessity for a standardized, expedient method to assess reef health—a criterion fulfilled by our Normalized Reef Status Index (NRSI). The NRSI offers a novel metric for scientists and conservation practitioners to augment traditional reef health assessments. Utilizing the NRSI, we assessed the ecological status of 346 reefs across the Mexican Pacific. Our results demonstrated that only reefs within Fully Protected areas conform to the concave trophic structure indicative of low human interference. In stark contrast, unprotected reefs exhibited a depleted trophic architecture, often devoid of apex predators. This depletion not only threatens coastal livelihoods and food security but also disrupts the delicate balance of marine ecosystems critical to sustaining global ecological functions. Through the NRSI, we provide a robust, scalable tool for ongoing monitoring and conservation efforts, underscoring the urgent need to address human-induced trophic disruptions.

United in Green: A Bibliometric Exploration of Renewable Energy Communities

In recent years, the domain of renewable energy communities has experienced dynamic growth, spurred by European Union (EU) legislation that became law for all 27 Member States in June 2021. This legislative framework intensified research efforts aimed at discovering new methods for sustainable energy sources through the development of individual and collective energy communities. Each EU country has implemented distinct frameworks for renewable energy communities, leading to varied legislative approaches. This has spurred exponential investment, facilitating the deployment of photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems, offering significant economic and environmental benefits to community members. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this analysis is to investigate academic publications related to renewable energy communities. Using a dataset extracted from the ISI Web of Science database, this study employs a bibliometric approach to identify the main authors, affiliations, and journals and analyze collaboration networks, as well as discern key topics and the countries involved. The analysis reveals an annual growth rate of 42.82%. Through thematic maps, WordClouds, three-field plots, and a review of the top 10 globally cited documents, this study provides a comprehensive perspective on the evolving domain of renewable energy communities.

Optimized scheduling of integrated community energy stations based on improved NSGA-III algorithm

To cope with the problem of building and using a large number of fast electric vehicle stations (FEVS), adding FEVS to the integrated community energy system (ICES) provides new ideas for solving the problems of interaction with the grid, overall system stability, revenue benefits, and environmental pollution. To this end, this paper designs an ICES model with FEVS (ICES-FEVS). This model considers economy, stability, and sustainability to achieve all-around consideration. To further solve the complex multi-objective problem, the multi-objective improvement strategy NSGA-III algorithm (IS-NSGA-III), combined with fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE), is used to solve the model. In the solution phase, the advantages of the IS-NSGA-III algorithm are first verified by the benchmark function, and the validity of the ICES-FEVS model is verified by comparing different models. In the optimization results, daily revenue was increased by 6.3 %, daily battery life loss was increased by 26.03 %, and pollution emissions were reduced by 46.9 %. The analysis of the results shows that introducing Electric Vehicle (EV) fast charging stations in an integrated community energy system ensures economic improvement, sustainable development, and more favorable regulation of the energy storage system. The simulation results show that compared with other algorithms, the HV metrics of IS-NSGA-III are lower by about 6.8 %, Spread metrics are better by about 1.35 %, and the proposed IS-NSGA-III is better in terms of convergence and distributivity.

How urban–rural differences and ageing affect residents’ occupancy patterns – An empirical study based on China national time use survey

Occupancy behavior plays a crucial role in residential community planning, building design, and energy system optimization for sustainable development, particularly in the face of climate change. Research on residential occupancy behavior often lacks comprehensive empirical data and fails to account for the diversity of influencing factors such as demographic features and urban–rural distinctions. This study utilizes a national time-use survey to examine occupancy patterns in urban and rural households, aiming to identify key factors influencing these patterns. A K-shaped cluster analysis was applied to extract typical occupancy patterns for weekdays and weekends, with a subsequent comparison between urban and rural data. The study also analyzed the impact of demographic and social factors on total hours spent at home. The results indicate that urban residents tend to concentrate their occupancy on weekdays, while weekends show more dispersed patterns. Furthermore, time spent at home by urban residents is positively correlated with the age of family members and negatively correlated with working status and education level. Given the aging demographic, older urban families are likely to spend more time at home on weekdays. These findings contribute to a better understanding of residential occupancy behavior in China.

Harnessing Stadium Roofs for Community Electrical Power: A Case Study of Rome’s Olympic Stadium Title

Within a city, there is a lack of space for the installation of photovoltaic panels, especially in cities with significant artistic heritage. Hence, there is a need to identify new spaces for the installation of renewable energy systems capable of supplying part of the city’s energy demand. Large infrastructures for public use such as stadiums, because of their characteristics, can become an essential resource for surrounding communities by installing photovoltaic panels on their roofs. This innovative approach can supply renewable electricity to the local community, aligning with the concept of renewable energy communities (RECs). This study focuses on the Olympic Stadium in Rome, exploring a new way to produce and share the electricity generated. An energy simulation of the photovoltaic plant was carried out by means of a transient calculation tool System Advisor Model (SAM). Then, the energy output from photovoltaics was correlated with the stadium, streetlight, and household electrical energy demands. The results highlight the suitability of the photovoltaic plant and the energy, economic, and environmental advantages derived from its exploitation.

An enhanced energy management system for coordinated energy storage and exchange in grid-connected photovoltaic-based community microgrids

This paper introduces an enhanced coordinated community energy management system (CEMS) for a community microgrid. It is designed to optimize residential energy consumption and facilitate energy sharing among smart homes. The proposed solution integrates constrained mixed-integer programming (CMIP) approach along with advanced optimization technique and cooperative game theory-based pricing mechanism to address critical challenges in existing energy management strategies, including load scheduling and efficient peer-to-peer energy trading. The CEMS approach is adopted for grid-connected community power systems that incorporate local energy sources such as photovoltaic and battery storage systems. This solution is implemented under a time-of-use dynamic pricing model for energy transfer from the main grid to the community peers, a modified mid-market pricing mechanism for the P2P energy exchange, and feed-in tariff for energy transfer from the community peers to the main grid. Besides, seagull optimization algorithm is applied to relax the CMIP problem to get the optimal rational solution of the scheduling problem which is subjected to a rounding process to obtain the best feasible solution. The obtained results indicate a substantial reduction in electricity costs, achieving daily savings of 72.21 % and reducing grid dependency by 41.95 %. Moreover, 82.2 % of the community's energy demand was met through locally generated resources with 18.39 % enhancement of the overall CMG self-consumption ratio comparing to the reference operating scenario. Ultimately, the study demonstrates the effectiveness of the management system in improving load profiles, maximizing the use of local renewable energy sources, and reducing electricity expenses, thereby providing a sustainable and economically viable model for future smart grids.

Empirical insights into enabling and impeding factors for increasing citizen investments in renewable energy communities

This study empirically investigates factors that alternatively enable or impede citizen investments in renewable energy communities (RECs). These factors include key ownership and governance features of REC business models following a strong market logic. Analyzing data from a survey of 1022 adults in France through a discrete choice experiment and a contingent valuation experiment on stated investments in RECs, we find that participants value the opportunity to delegate their voting rights to a trustee but dislike a capital-based voting rule and co-investments by firms. While a capital-based voting rule weakens the stated propensity to invest, it increases the invested amount for participants who are willing to invest some amount. Higher rates of return and higher shares of self-consumption of electricity spur stated investments. These findings offer insights that can inform the transformation of business models to facilitate the scaling-up of RECs. Unless a REC business model with the ownership and governance features considered in this study generates higher rates of return, it appears to face a trade-off between lower citizen participation rates and the leveraging of higher investment amounts from firms, municipalities, and potentially also citizens.

Developing community energy systems to facilitate Ethiopia's transition to sustainable energy

In Ethiopia, renewable energy offers people an affordable, dependable, and eco-friendly power supply while decreasing the carbon footprint. However, delivering a renewable future for the country requires a massive change in social practices and systems of provision. The slow progress of renewable development is hindering the transition to a cleaner energy future. Over 80 % of people live in rural areas where it is expensive to reach them via grid networks in Ethiopia, requiring off-grid alternatives.Community energy systems, which are off-grid energy systems in which communities play a key role, offer alternative strategies to close the country's energy access gap. However, community energy systems remain underdeveloped in Ethiopia. There is a need to understand the opportunities for community energy and the barriers that hinder its development in Ethiopia, and their role in energy transitions.This paper adopts an experimental lens to understand the diverse dimensions of community energy projects through how they are made, maintained, and lived. Using a comparative analysis of three multi-method, qualitative case studies, this paper argues that the political context poses the biggest obstacle to the development of community energy in Ethiopia despite these projects' tangible benefits.The analysis indicates that community energy projects allow communities to be involved in all stages of project development. In every project, communities assume project management responsibilities after commissioning. However, these projects encounter challenges in resourcing capital, managing supply chains, and building necessary skills among community members to understand business models to ensure sustained operation of the systems.