*Article* **Novel Conceptual Architecture for the Next-Generation Electricity Markets to Enhance a Large Penetration of Renewable Energy**

#### **Javier Rodríguez-García, David Ribó-Pérez \*, Carlos Álvarez-Bel and Elisa Peñalvo-López**

Universitat Politècnica de València, Institute for Energy Engineering, Camino de Vera s/n, edificio 8E, escalera F, 5ª planta, València 46022, Spain

**\*** Correspondence: david.ribo@iie.upv.es; Tel.: +34-963879240

Received: 24 May 2019; Accepted: 4 July 2019; Published: 6 July 2019

**Abstract:** A transition to a sustainable energy system is essential. In this context, smart grids represent the future of power systems for e fficiently integrating renewable energy sources and active consumer participation. Recently, di fferent studies were performed that defined the conceptual architecture of power systems and their agents. However, these conceptual architectures do not overcome all issues for the development of new electricity markets. Thus, a novel conceptual architecture is proposed. The transactions of energy, operation services, and economic flows among the agents proposed are carefully analysed. In this regard, the results allow setting their activities' boundaries and state their relationships with electricity markets. The suitability of implementing local electricity markets is studied to enforce competition among distributed energy resources by unlocking all the potential that active consumers have. The proposed architecture is designed to o ffer flexibility and e fficiency to the system thanks to a clearly defined way for the exploitation of flexible resources and distributed generation. This upgraded architecture hereby proposed establishes the characteristics of each agen<sup>t</sup> in the forthcoming markets and studies to overcome the barriers to the large deployment of renewable energy sources.

**Keywords:** Electricity markets; power system; conceptual architecture; distributed generation; flexible resources; local electricity markets
