Energy Prosumers Research Articles

The Possibility of Renewable Energy Development Through Prosumer Energy

Abstract This paper is devoted to the prosumer energy market. Particular attention was paid to legislative changes regarding the normative definition of a prosumer. According to the author, it is the definitional scope that sets the directions for the development of the prosumer energy market, and ultimately the entire renewable energy market.

Game-Based Optimal Aggregation of Energy Prosumer Community With Mixed-Pricing Scheme in Two-Settlement Electricity Market

Game-Based Optimal Aggregation of Energy Prosumer Community With Mixed-Pricing Scheme in Two-Settlement Electricity Market

Prosumer energy management under controllable power transactions with the grid

Prosumer energy management under controllable power transactions with the grid

Photovoltaic Production Management under Constrained Regulatory Requirements: A Step towards a Local Energy Community Creation

Addressing the urgent need for sustainable energy sources due to the high costs and environmental impacts of fossil fuels, this research explores the integration of decentralized solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in urban Southern European settings. Specifically, we examine the effectiveness of a solar carport PV installation at a higher education institution, focusing on the challenges of energy surplus management within regulated markets that restrict grid energy injection. Our study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data analysis of energy production with qualitative assessments of regulatory frameworks. The innovative aspect of our method lies in the development of a smart management system tailored to circumvent legal barriers, ensuring optimal use of locally produced energy and fostering the creation of an energy community with shared energetic, environmental, and social benefits. Preliminary results demonstrate that our system not only prevents energy loss but also enhances investment return by enabling the institution to become an energy prosumer within its community. A comparative analysis with traditional energy exercises reveals that our approach significantly improves energy self-sufficiency and sustainability, positioning decentralized PV systems as a viable solution in similar urban contexts.

AC-DC-DC Converter for Small Power Energy Storage Systems

The energy transformation driven by the development of renewable energy sources has become a reality for all power grid users. Prosumer energy, primarily utilizing photovoltaic installations, is one of the fastest-growing market segments. The advancement of technology, a decrease in electrochemical energy storage prices, and changes in the legal framework governing energy billing for grid-fed power have led to a growing interest in expanding prosumer installations with energy storage modules. This article presents the authors’ concept and expected functionalities of a prosumer system equipped with energy storage based on theoretical assumptions, simulation analyses, and experimental research. Additionally, it covers the design and functionality of a hybrid converter; its experimental validation, including an analysis of operational modes; the development of a control algorithm under real conditions; and the efficiency testing of the device.

Analysis of the Operational Outcomes of an Energy-Sharing System for Low-Carbon Energy Community in South Korea

The transition to a net-zero energy system is being promoted in the energy sector, which has led to the creation of energy prosumers. These produce, consume, and trade energy using renewable energy systems installed in buildings or complexes. Here, a community was set as the target to apply the concept of an energy prosumer at the individual building and regional levels. Energy-sharing systems were divided into three categories: energy production, energy storage, and energy management. Energy-sharing systems centered on electrical energy—photovoltaic, battery energy storage, and energy management systems—were installed in two communities located in South Korea, and the energy-sharing effects of the system operation were reported. Monthly power consumption in spring and fall exhibited significant savings of approximately three times that of winter consumption, owing to the energy-sharing systems. Daily hourly power-consumption patterns differed on weekdays and weekends because of the weekday working and building-use hours of the communities. Energy could be shared between communities and buildings because of surplus energy. More surplus power was available for energy sharing on weekends because power consumption was lower. Because energy trading and sharing are restricted, the related laws are being revised. Therefore, a low-carbon community can be realized through surplus energy trading and sharing technology between communities and buildings as renewable energy systems spread owing to low carbonization.

Bipartite graph-based community-to-community matching in local energy market considering socially networked prosumers

The mutual influences among different energy prosumers caused by the socially connected relationship have not been modeled explicitly in the current local energy market. Hence, we first develop an iterative market clearing framework to bridge the data-driven and model-driven models of heterogeneous market participants. Then, we consider the behavior difficulty, communication channel, depth of information process, social influence, and observed peer effects in the multi-agent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL) framework in the data-driven models. Finally, we calculate the marginal market value of each C2C energy transaction with a linearized distribution network power flow model and formulate the C2C matching as a bipartite graph. We propose a recurrent Hungarian algorithm to solve the best matching schemes of C2C trading. Case studies verify that the distribution network power flow model considered in C2C energy trading successfully constrain the unit values of nodal voltages between 0.9 and 1.1. The power flow values in distribution network are constrained within the upper limits of transmission capacity for each branch. The finite iteration number of MADRL in hybrid market-clearing algorithm guarantees the normal P2P energy market operation. Moreover, the social influences for the P2P energy trading results are verified by comparing P2P trading results in different scenarios. Our proposed model can better depict the trading behaviors in communities.

Can Locational Disparity of Prosumer Energy Optimization Due to Inverter Rules Be Limited?

To mitigate issues related to the growth of variable smart loads and distributed generation, distribution system operators (DSO) now make it binding for prosumers with inverters to operate under pre-set rules. In particular, the maximum active and reactive power set points for prosumers are based on local voltage measurements to ensure that inverter output does not cause voltage violations. However, such actions, as observed in this work, restrict the range available for local energy management, with more adverse losses on arbitrage profits for prosumers located farther away from the substation. The goal of the paper is three-fold: (a) to develop an optimal local energy optimization algorithm for activation of load flexibility and inverter-interfaced solar PV and energy storage under time-varying electricity prices; (b) to quantify the locational impact on prosumer arbitrage gains due to inverter injection rules prevalent in different energy markets; (c) to propose a computationally efficient hybrid inverter control policy which provides voltage regulation while substantially reducing locational disparity. Using numerical simulations on three identical prosumers located at different parts of a radial feeder, we show that our control policy is able to minimize locational disparity in arbitrage gains between customers at the beginning and end of the feeder to 1.4%, while PV curtailment is reduced by 91.7% compared to the base case with restrictive volt-Var and volt-watt policy.

Measures to Promote Energy Prosumer in Photovoltaic Solar Energy

In the process of implementing and trying various measures to achieve carbon neutrality around the world, Korea is also presenting various policies to advance to a low-carbon economy. Energy prosumer is a consumer who produces electricity directly and sells surplus electricity after consumption through an electric power company. Currently, advanced countries such as the U.S. and Germany are developing various business models beyond the initial energy prosumer model. However, in Korea, it is difficult for individuals to directly participate in the electricity market and buy and sell electricity due to policy limitations and complex reasons. In addition to these problems, low electricity bills and relatively high solar power prices are factors that hinder energy prosumers. Basically, in order for energy prosumers to be activated, the unit price of solar power must be lower than the unit price of electricity bill. In addition, an electricity market must be formed in which individuals can freely trade, and policies and legislation must be prepared to support them. If such a step is prepared to revitalize energy prosumers, energy self-sufficiency will be possible and a new energy industry will be established. Ultimately, decentralized resource systems such as smart grids are activated, enabling carbon neutrality. As the unit price of solar power in Korea has fallen and electricity bills are on the rise, energy prosumer’s prospects are positive. If the electricity bill system is implemented first through restructuring of the electricity industry, it will be possible to establish the energy prosumer system in Korea while trying to develop various energy prosumer business models and transaction methods.

Development of Renewable Energy in View of Energy Security—The Study of the Photovoltaic Market in Poland

In recent years, the issue of energy security has been the subject of many studies, debates, and discussions. Undoubtedly, geopolitical crises in Eastern Europe and the actions of the EU as part of the continuous development of the EU’s climate and energy policy have contributed to the advancement of discussions in this area. Due to the growing role and importance of energy in the economic systems of individual countries, the need to guarantee energy security is commencing to be regarded as an element of the economic security of the state and therefore, national security. The legal solutions adopted in Poland in recent years and the launch of government support programs for the development of micro-installations and prosumer energy have led to the rapid development of this sector. The aim of this article is therefore to assess the conditions of renewable energy sources development in Poland on the example of photovoltaics in the line of energy security concept. The empirical results emphasize that the development of photovoltaic is so dynamic for several reasons, primarily due to lower technological costs, stakeholder cooperation, confidence in the regulatory environment, as well as the high interest of the Polish public in this issue.

Grid-friendly peer-to-peer transactive energy market for inhibiting players’ strategic behavior

With the development of distributed renewable energy resources (RERs) in smart cities, the peer-to-peer (P2P) transactive energy market has become an effective way for RER owners to consume the surplus produced power. Nevertheless, the influence of grid usage costs in P2P energy trading has not been considered in prosumers’ strategic behaviors. To solve this issue, we analyze the network usage of P2P energy transactions and model a Nash–Stackelberg game to simulate the trading process of market participants. Firstly, we assume the prosumers can join the P2P energy market and determine their roles freely. The market manager adjusts the grid usage prices to influence the prosumers’ exchanged energy amounts. We then establish a monolithic VCG mechanism to inhibit the prosumers’ strategic behaviors while reducing the computational difficulty of the VCG mechanism. Finally, we develop a best-response (BR)-based algorithm to solve one energy prosumer’s cost minimization subproblem at a time to seek market equilibrium. Since the energy prosumers and market manager interact on the trading amount, the prosumers’ responses are modeled as bi-level mixed-integer nonlinear programming (BLMINLP). We employ the generalized Benders decomposition method to reduce the solution difficulty. Case studies verify the theoretical properties and show the practicability of the proposed algorithms.

Managing Knowledge Acquired from Smart Meters in a Distributed Advanced Metering Infrastructure

The primary purpose of this article is to present the functional information and knowledge - acquired from smart electricity meter readings, which are a component of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). The relations between the management of knowledge acquired from the AMI system and the new empirically identifieddecision-making processes that make the management of electricity value more efficient, both on the side of the supplier but also, which need to be emphasised, on the side of the consumer/household, often the energy prosumer (micro RES production), are indicated in it. In the first part of the article - the theoretical and cognitive part - justification has been given for the subject matter specified in the title of the paper. Attention was drawn to the dynamic digitization and automation of energy metering readings. The size of the AMI market in terms of the growth in the number of smart meters in households, as well as the size of the market, has been quantitatively described. In the context of the dynamic growth of smart electricity meters, the growth of heterogeneous knowledge on households resulting from high-frequency readings was justified, which in fact reflect not only variable energy demand but also the culture of energy demand and use. In the paper its author has structured the insights gained from the AMI infrastructure. In turn, the second - empirical - part attempts to answer two research questions: 1) What information/knowledge in addition to real-time bi-directional energy readings necessary for energy value management can be generated through the use of high-frequency clocking smart meters?; 2) How to use the acquired knowledge, manage the knowledge, acquired from the readings of the distributed AMI (smart electricity meters) infrastructure, in terms of key decision-making processes that make energy value management more effective, both on the supplier side but also on the consumer/household side, frequently the energy prosumer - micro RES production. In order to answer the above two research questions, a questionnaire survey was conducted and a brainstorming, scientific discourse with inference was carried out with a group of business practitioners, including managers of corporations and energy companies - improving their knowledge, and competences in the area of management and entrepreneurship in energy markets, including RES.

P2P transactions as a market innovation from a prosumer perspective: Level of potential involvement and behavioral incentives and disincentives of development

The development of sustainable energy not only initiates technological innovations but also affects organizational innovation. One of the manifestations of such intangible innovation is peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions used in prosumer energy trading. However, a crucial condition for the development of this market model is the willingness of participants to engage in this form of exchange. Bearing this in mind, the aim of this article is to identify the level of knowledge and potential involvement, as well as the incentives and disincentives for the development of the P2P market from the perspective of prosumers. To achieve this objective, the article uses the results of survey research conducted on a representative sample of 753 Polish prosumers. The analyses indicate that over half of the respondents are interested in and willing to participate in the P2P market. These prosumers are primarily motivated by the opportunity to minimize energy losses produced independently and the possibility of reducing fees (total energy consumption costs). On the other hand, the main barriers to the development of this form of market innovation in the energy sector are the need to dedicate additional time to settlements and transactions and a lack of confidence in state and regional institutions responsible for organizing such a market.

The Importance of Energy Prosumers for Affordable and Clean Energy Development: A Review of the Literature from the Viewpoints of Management and Policy

The release of greenhouse gases has led to increases in global temperatures and triggered an unprecedented array of environmental disasters. The aim of net-zero emissions is to increase the share of the world’s energy supplied by renewable sources as well as to influence consumer behavior to improve the balance between energy supply and demand. Appropriate energy policies can encourage consumers to take a proactive role in the transition to more sustainable forms of energy. Given the circumstances, an increasing number of demand-side users now function as prosumers who produce, store, consume, utilize, and manage energy. To understand the state of the energy prosumers’ business model in this changing sector, a review of the literature related to energy prosumers is made, with a focus on energy efficiency, net-zero emissions, Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7), energy management efficiency, and Energy prosumer systems. The purposes of this review are (1) to explore the shared models of the energy prosumers, (2) to gain insight into the energy prosumer in different areas, and (3) to identify any gaps in the energy management efficiency research. Finally, we examine the major difference between energy prosumers and their respective relationships to energy sources. The results reveal that for energy prosumer systems, there is still some room regarding how they will financially, equitably, and efficiently adapt to the impact of the new increased renewable energy prosumer business model.

Decentralized optimization for integrated electricity–heat systems with data center based energy hub considering communication packet loss

Recently, waste heat recovery has enabled data centers to serve as energy prosumers with flexible features that play essential roles in the coordination operation of integrated electricity–heat systems (IEHSs). The energy hub, as a critical component of IEHSs, provides a promising opportunity to improve energy efficiency. In this paper, the decentralized coordination optimization for IEHSs with data centers is explored to protect the confidential information of different entities. First, a novel data center based energy hub (DCEH) model is developed, where energy conversion, consumption and storage present high flexibility. Especially, in addition to heat recovery, several other controllable operational characteristics of a single data center are considered, involving servers, workloads and indoor temperature. Then, the coordination optimization model of IEHSs with DCEH (IEHSs-DCEH) is constructed by incorporating energy consumption cost and carbon emission, where the energy networks of IEHSs are considered. Moreover, a learning-aided relaxed alternating direction method of multipliers (LR-ADMM) algorithm is proposed to solve the dispatching model of IEHSs-DCEH considering communication packet loss. The proposed LR-ADMM algorithm embeds a momentum extrapolation based prediction technique, which can obtain the predicted value of missing boundary information without adding computational burden, even in continuous packet losses. Simulation results demonstrate that the developed coordination dispatching model can achieve higher economic and environmental benefits than the reference one that ignores data centers’ flexibility. Additionally, the proposed LR-ADMM algorithm with proper prediction factors exhibits a faster convergence rate and robustness hedging against packet losses compared to the ADMM and relaxed ADMM approaches.

Emission reduction estimation by coupling peer-to-peer energy sharing with carbon emission markets considering temporal and spatial factors

This paper presents an energy-sharing market coupled with carbon emission trading to quantify peer-to-peer energy-sharing markets’ economic and environmental influences. We establish a bi-level peer-to-peer energy sharing market considering the interaction between energy prosumers and the system operator. An interaction algorithm and generalized Nash game are thus applied in this work. With the simulation results, we find that the daily disutility of provincial systems is reduced by about 7 ¥ when time-of-use electricity rates are applied. This pricing strategy can encourage prosumers to participate in energy-sharing transactions. The subsidies of electricity rates, carbon prices, and renewable energy investments can improve the social welfare of the whole system. Considering the development of power generation technology and emission reduction targets, the change of optimization parameters in the next 30 years is analyzed in the example. It can be concluded that the total CO2 emission in 2050 will be reduced to almost half of that in 2020 in the energy-sharing markets. The subsidy of renewable energy generation and stricter CO2 emission constraints may accelerate the reduction of carbon emissions.

A high altitude prosumer energy cooperation framework considering composite energy storage sharing and electric‑oxygen‑hydrogen flexible supply

With the ever-increasing penetration rate of distributed renewable energy in the smart grid, the role of consumers is shifted to prosumers, and shared energy storage can be a potential measure to improve the operating income of prosumers. Nevertheless, the energy cooperation strategies of high-altitude prosumers (HAPs) are rarely studied. This study proposes an energy cooperation framework for HAPs, aiming to improve the economic flexibility of HAP operations and promote the cooperation framework. Firstly, a combined oxygen supply model for HAPs is proposed to satisfy the electricity and oxygen supply demand in high-altitude areas. Secondly, a composite energy storage provider (CESP) is introduced to provide electricity‑oxygen‑hydrogen composite energy storage sharing services and to establish an energy cooperation framework between HAPs and CESPs. Moreover, an asymmetric profit distribution model with the contributions of multiple energy sharing is proposed, and a two-stage profit distribution is carried out for CESPs and HAPs. Finally, the multi-scenario analysis and comparison are conducted to assess the overall benefits of the framework. From the research results, the proposed framework outperforms the independent HAPs, and the economic benefits, primary energy saving rate, system independence, and self-sufficiency rate have increased by 1609.91 CNY, 15.00%, 10.75%, and 15.31%, respectively. This study provides a feasible framework for energy cooperation among HAPs, and the framework's effectiveness is well-validated.

Transient energy transfer control of frequency-coupled energy storage devices in low inertia prosumer energy systems

If the energy source of rotational inertia is expanded to include the stored static energy, the transient stability of prosumer energy systems is enhanced by the energy transfer between frequency-coupled hybrid energy storage device (HESD) and synchronous generator (SG). In this paper, first, the conversion relationships between the stored energy in the battery and capacitor, and the mechanical kinetic energy of SG are established. Subsequently, the virtual inertia hidden in HESD is obtained for the frequency-coupled capability. Second, the small disturbance model of a prosumer energy system with virtual inertia is derived, and the impact of frequency-coupled HESD on frequency stability and damping characteristics is analyzed. Third, based on the mechanism analysis of system transient stability, a novel energy transfer control strategy adapted to the HESD is proposed. By sharing transient energy between the SG and HESD, both the frequency variation and rotor angle oscillation can be prevented using a unified controller. Last, a typical test system with high penetration of photovoltaic (PV) arrays is implemented on a hardware-in-the-loop platform. The results demonstrate that under the proposed control strategy, the transient stability of prosumer energy systems with frequency-coupled HESD can be significantly improved.

Two-stage centralised management of Local Energy Market for prosumers integration in a community-based P2P

Centrally managed or community-based P2P Energy Communities are at the forefront of the literature. A collectively shared energy configuration maximises the energy use of local generators. An interesting scenario is energy sharing when residential buildings conform to an Energy Community with tertiary buildings as prosumers. This article introduces a two-stage centralised management of the Local Energy Market for prosumers integration. In the first stage, energy planning is carried out. In this phase, the Local Energy Market Operator optimises the energy dispatch based on energy prosumers’ predictions (previously performed by each participant using Boosting Decision Tree technique) and Mixed Integer Linear Programming. In the second stage, real time management is performed, where energy storage systems (individual Batteries and Central Energy Storage System) are employed to address the energy deviations. To address the viability of the proposed management, in the first place, the community-based P2P is compared to other Low Voltage configurations (Collective Self-Consumption and Full P2P) for one-stage management, where the community-based P2P approach obtains the best results in technical, economic, and environmental aspects. Subsequently, the two-stage management is examined with local Batteries and combining local Batteries with a Central Energy Storage System. The results show that the proposal, integrating local and central storage, significantly improves a local energy community’s techno-economic and environmental indicators regarding other energy management market configurations.

Optimal operation of distribution networks and multiple community energy prosumers based on mixed game theory

Community energy systems are currently transitioning from conventional consumers to prosumers. Under this context, the coordinated management of multiple community energy prosumers (CEPs) is explored this study in accordance with the same distribution network. The aim of this study is to facilitate the coordination of unit operations, demand response, and peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading among CEP coalitions based on the distribution network operator (DSO) by setting electricity prices. Thus, a mixed game-based optimal operation model of DSO and CEP alliances is developed, integrating Stackelberg and cooperative games. The upper layer aims at maximizing DSO revenue, whereas the lower layer minimizes the operation costs of CEP cooperative alliances while allocating benefits in accordance with the Nash-Harsanyi bargaining theory. The model is solved with a two-stage distributed algorithm that integrates the bisection method and the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). Furthermore, cloud energy storage (CES) is introduced to optimize the economics of CEP. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through a case study, demonstrating the collaborative optimal scheduling of multiple CEPs and reasonable benefit distribution. Accordingly, this study is conducive to expediting the effective and economical management of CEPs under distribution networks.