Techno-economic and social assessment of an energy community for low-income households: An evidence of Seville

A fair energy transition must include vulnerable users and those facing energy poverty. This article evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) as a solution for low-income households. This analysis highlights RECs as a scalable and inclusive pathway to support vulnerable populations in the energy transition, combining environmental, economic, and social benefits. The case study focuses on Seville, analyzing total demand from users consuming less than or equal to 3000 kWh/year and exploring the deployment of photovoltaic (PV) systems with various storage capacities. Results show that supplying energy and selling excess to the grid is economically viable. Under a 40% cost reduction scenario, installing 500 MWp of PV and 108 MW–500 MWh of storage achieves a Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of €−6.77/MWh, significantly below current grid prices, with a Net Present Value (NPV) of €25.6 million. Even a conservative LCOE of €62.48/MWh and an NPV of €43.24 million from installing 500 MWp of PV and 172 MW–800 MWh of storage remains competitive. Configurations without energy sales yield negative NPVs, but from a social perspective, where the goal is to reduce energy costs rather than generate profit, the results are still promising. Energy indicators confirm that combining PV and storage increases self-sufficiency and reduces grid dependency and CO2 emissions.