Value Sharing within Renewable Energy Communities

Dear Colleagues,

Renewable energy communities (RECs) have recently been regulated by many countries as a policy to foster the transition toward a net-zero energy system. REC initiatives aim to encourage a more active role of citizens in the energy sector, for example by converting energy consumers into collective or self-prosumers, promoting the ownership of distributed renewable energy power plants.

Renewable energy community initiatives are complex projects. Their technical and economic viability depends on multiple interdependent factors. In the literature, authors have investigated the optimal design of RECs for the integration of different distributed renewable energy source technologies in the energy system. Many have analysed how REC projects can reduce energy costs for REC members and reduce their GHG footprint.

This Special Issue focuses on the topic of value sharing within a Renewable Energy Community. With the term “value”, we refer to a broad spectrum of benefits from a perspective of different stakeholders: citizens (energy saving, cost reduction, automation, social inclusion, energy poverty, etc.), countries (primary energy demand, net-zero transition, energy sources, energy autarchy, mineral resources, economy, islanded and rural areas, etc.), energy grid (energy quality and reliability, grid efficiency, energy loss, grid expansion, grid optimization, etc.), and service companies (REC management, hardware and software control devices, optimization algorithms, etc.). In this Special Issue, we encourage contribution to bi-level trading with the market and among REC members; distributing revenues and sharing algorithms among REC members; optimal design of REC energy system technologies to reduce energy cost, energy security and reliability; planning of RECs for achieving net-zero energy transition target at national or local level, or in isolated and rural areas; optimization of REC operation using flexibility provided by load shift, demand-side management, demand response and storage systems; adoption of REC policies in different countries; business models for RECs.

Contributions reporting real-world case studies are also welcome. All submitted manuscripts will be peer-reviewed in accordance with the quality standards of the Energies journal. This Special Issue strongly encourages the submission of original research and literature review manuscripts. In the case of submission of an original research manuscript, the results must be new, replicable, and supported by a formal methodology, such as comprehensive mathematical models, algorithmic procedures, and numerical experiments. Results data presented as an illustration or figures should be provided (in the paper or as supplementary material) to ensure the replicability of the results.

Dr. Francesco Demetrio Minuto
Dr. Andrea Lanzini
Dr. Sergio Olivero
Guest Editors

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• policy adoption
• energy shares
• energy community internal trade
• REC business models
• optimization of REC assets schedule
• energy system optimization
• decentralized/centralized optimization
• diffusion innovation
• design of REC energy system
• energy security
• net-zero transition
• ledger technology
• distribution or sharing algorithms
• optimization algorithms
• work from home behavior
• energy behavior shift
• storage flexibility
• cost minimization
• uncertainty of load demand and generation
• REC isolated or rural distribution system
• citizen energy consumption awareness