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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "C: Energy Economics and Policy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 14838

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Dr. Marco Merlo

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Guest Editor

Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo Da Vinci 32, Milano, Italy
Interests: renewable energy integration; modeling; sizing; energy storage; electricity market; regulatory framework
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

When we speak about energy communities (ECs), we generally refer to groups of citizens who organize themselves to actively contribute to the energy transition, producing energy and meeting their energy needs through the exploitation of renewable sources.

ECs are not an isolated microgrid; the energy produced is shared among the members of the community using the public infrastructure or also exchanged with other actors on the market. Therefore, self-sufficiency is an important aspect, but it is not a technical requirement, and it is not mandatory to achieve a complete autarky. By contrast, the optimal planning and operation of an EC are driven by economical evaluations that take into account both energy exchanges among community members and with the external energy system.

This Special Issue is devoted to investigating benefits and risks correlated to ECs, evaluating the issue from three different perspectives: the one of the EC as a whole, the one of the EC members (i.e., citizens, municipalities, and SMEs that participate to the EC), and the one of the system in which they are hosted (i.e., the public distribution network). In particular, the Special Issue is strongly oriented to real-life implementation of EC, pointing out the performances, criticalities, and needs (in terms of regulatory framework, incentive schemes, technical arrangements, technologies, etc.). Eventually, numerical simulations based on real-life study cases will be adopted in order to better clarify and quantify the issue.

Prof. Dr. Marco Merlo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

energy communities
energy transition
electric grids
energy efficiency
renewables
energy storage

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 435 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Design of Energy Communities and Data-Sharing: Format and Open Data

by Emanuele Guerrazzi, Dimitri Thomopulos, Davide Fioriti, Ivan Mariuzzo, Eva Schito, Davide Poli and Marco Raugi

Energies 2023, 16(17), 6268; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176268 - 29 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1222

Abstract

Governments are promoting energy community (EC) policies to encourage joint investment and the operation of shared energy assets by citizens, industries, and public authorities, with the aim of promoting economic, social, and environmental benefits. However, ECs require appropriate planning and energy management strategies, which require data that are rarely clean and well-structured. Data providers rarely adhere to a common format for data sharing, which hinders the development of ECs. As the number of ECs is expected to grow significantly, this poses significant issues for stakeholders to quickly and efficiently develop projects. To address this issue, in this paper we propose a literature-based analysis and classification to derive the major data needs for EC planning, as well as a template format for data sharing. Our literature review on ECs successfully identifies the main data required to properly describe this system and its components. Their classification further clarifies that data structures shall account for tabular-like data of various types and flexible dimentionality, or cardinality. A public release of an open dataset for a case study in Pisa, Italy is also provided, supported by realistic or real data for testing the sizing and operation of ECs. The results suggest that data standard practices are needed, and this paper can lay the foundation for their standardization for ECs to fast-forward their deployment as support policy and technical decision-making. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Communities Implementation)

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11 pages, 1393 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Implementing Partnerships in Energy Supply Chain Cybersecurity Resilience

by Tania Wallis and Paul Dorey

Energies 2023, 16(4), 1868; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16041868 - 14 Feb 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2383

Abstract

This study describes the implementation of an energy sector community to examine the practice of cybersecurity for operational technology environments and their supply chains. Evaluating cybersecurity from the perspectives of different actors participating in the energy sector, the progress and challenges of operators and suppliers in delivering cybersecurity for the sector are explored. While regulatory frameworks incentivize individual organizations to improve their cybersecurity, operational services contain contributions from many organizations, and this supply chain of activity needs to be influenced and managed to achieve desired security and resilience outcomes. Through collaborations and systems engineering approaches, a reference model is created to facilitate improvements in managing the cybersecurity of supply chains for different actors, including service operators, maintainers, manufacturers, and systems integrators. This study provides an illustration of implementing a common vision of cybersecurity improvement across a community of actors. It utilizes a collaborative framework that has facilitated the co-production of cybersecurity guidance for energy sector participants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Communities Implementation)

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15 pages, 3162 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Challenges of Phasing out Emergency Diesel Generators: The Case Study of Lacor Hospital’s Energy Community

by Alex Felice, Jacopo Barbieri, Ander Martinez Alonso, Maarten Messagie and Thierry Coosemans

Energies 2023, 16(3), 1369; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031369 - 28 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1959

Abstract

Power outages of the electricity grid threaten the proper operation of critical infrastructure such as hospitals. To cope with this problem, emergency diesel generators (DGs) are often used to guarantee continuous and resilient electricity supply, resulting in increased costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, this study aims to investigate the economic feasibility of both reducing and replacing emergency diesel generators with solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and demand-side management. A mixed-integer quadratically constrained program is used to find the optimal configuration in terms of capacities of new assets, as well as the optimal scheduling of both BESS and flexible loads, that minimises the levelised cost of energy (LCOE). The model is applied to an existing hospital and its surrounding community located in Gulu, Uganda. The results show that full replacement of the DGs will require an additional 500 kWp of PV and 1591 kWh of BESS. This new configuration will decrease LCOE by 26% compared to the actual situation, with a simple payback time of 6.2 years and a reduction of 74% in GHG emissions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Communities Implementation)

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19 pages, 4485 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energetic and Economic Performances of the Energy Community of Magliano Alpi after One Year of Piloting

by Emilio Ghiani, Riccardo Trevisan, Gian Luca Rosetti, Sergio Olivero and Luca Barbero

Energies 2022, 15(19), 7439; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197439 - 10 Oct 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2043

Abstract

Italy’s first renewable energy community, located in the municipality of Magliano Alpi, was established under Italian Law 8/2020 on Energy Communities in December 2020. The community is composed of eight stakeholders and involves, in addition to public buildings in the municipality of Magliano Alpi, some residential users and small and medium-sized enterprises, realizing public–private cooperation aimed at reducing energy dependence on the public grid and, at the same time, contributing to the decarbonization of the energy sector. This article provides an analysis of the economic and energy performance during the first year of renewable community piloting. The study analyzes data collected with the community energy management system and introduces a number of key performance indices useful for evaluating further development and optimization options. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Communities Implementation)

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20 pages, 2721 KiB

Open AccessArticle

To Join or Not to Join? The Energy Community Dilemma: An Italian Case Study

by Federico De Santi, Matteo Moncecchi, Giuseppe Prettico, Gianluca Fulli, Sergio Olivero and Marco Merlo

Energies 2022, 15(19), 7072; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15197072 - 26 Sep 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1780

Abstract

Energy Communities (EC) are becoming a major driver to foster the energy transition in Europe and the regulatory framework adopted by each Member State (MS) plays a key role for a prosperous deployment of ECs. This paper is thus divided into two layers. The first layer of this paper addresses the current regulations introduced by MSs regarding ECs, providing a critical comparison of each solution used. The second layer of research concerns the introduction of a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) optimization algorithm early studied by some of the authors furtherly developed to assess the conditions that favour prosumers’ participation to ECs. Both these models have been tested on a case study located in the city of Magliano Alpi, in the north of Italy. The results demonstrate that the proposed methodology correctly evaluates the key parameters influencing participation of citizens in ECs and indicate that for the Italian EC under study, there is the possibility to further expand the capacity installed without undermining the profitability of investment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Communities Implementation)

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24 pages, 2134 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biomass-Based Renewable Energy Community: Economic Analysis of a Real Case Study

by Francesca Ceglia, Elisa Marrasso, Carlo Roselli, Maurizio Sasso, Guido Coletta and Luigi Pellegrino

Energies 2022, 15(15), 5655; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15155655 - 04 Aug 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2167

Abstract

Renewable energy communities are catalysts of social innovation, the citizens’ engagement in energy actions, and the exploitation of local resources. Thus, this paper defines a model for analyzing and optimally sizing energy systems serving renewable energy communities. Then, the proposed and replicable model was tailored to the economic feasibility analysis of a renewable energy community in the municipality of Tirano (Northern Italy). An energy audit was carried out to identify the electricity production and consumption within the perimeter of the primary substation and the thermal energy demand of the existing district heating network. The technical features of the energy conversion systems serving the renewable energy community were determined: an organic Rankine cycle biomass-based cogeneration plant, a mini-hydro plant, and a distributed photovoltaic system. Moreover, several different scenarios have been identified, in terms of cogeneration operating mode, photovoltaic penetration, and thermal energy economic value. The results show that, moving from 4.22 MW to 5.22 MW of photovoltaic peak power, the annual renewable electricity production increases by 10.1%. In particular, the simple pay back ranges between 4.90 and 4.98 years and the net present value between EUR 12.4 and 13.3 M for CHP operating at full power mode, considering that thermal energy available from the cogeneration unit is sold at EUR 49.2/MWh. These outcomes demonstrate the economic feasibility of wood-biomass-based renewable energy communities, which may help to enlarge the contribution of renewable technologies other than photovoltaic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Communities Implementation)

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14 pages, 1280 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Privacy and Auditability in the Local Energy Market of an Energy Community with Homomorphic Encryption

by Davide Strepparava, Federico Rosato, Lorenzo Nespoli and Vasco Medici

Energies 2022, 15(15), 5386; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15155386 - 26 Jul 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1361

Abstract

The world of electrical distribution is rapidly changing and is seeing more and more distributed production and steerable flexibilities. Energy communities are seen as an important innovation for the optimization of electrical consumption at a local level. A central need of the local energy markets inside energy communities is the exchange and circulation of production and consumption data, and therefore the problem of the potential leak of sensitive data must be addressed. In this paper, the context of the Lugaggia Innovation Community, a Self Consumption Community pilot project in southern Switzerland, is introduced together with the blockchain framework that was created for its internal market interaction and the rules designed for its local energy market. A cryptographic protocol from the literature, based on homomorphic encryption, is then proposed for the anonymous aggregation of production and consumption data of the individual households at a resolution of 15 min. The computational overhead associated with the protocol is then experimented and analyzed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Communities Implementation)

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