IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i11p2679-d1661878.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy Storage Systems: Scope, Technologies, Characteristics, Progress, Challenges, and Future Suggestions—Renewable Energy Community Perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Shoaib Ahmed

    (Department of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Via dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, PZ, Italy
    Department of Information and Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics (DIEM), University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy)

  • Antonio D’Angola

    (Department of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Via dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, PZ, Italy)

Abstract

A paradigm transition from centralized to decentralized energy systems has occurred, which has increased the deployment of renewable energy sources (RESs) in renewable energy communities (RECs), promoting energy independence, strengthening local resilience, increasing self-sufficiency, and moving toward CO 2 emission reduction. However, the erratic and unpredictable generation of RESs like wind, solar, and other sources make these systems necessary, and a lot of interest in energy storage systems is increasing because they have rapidly become the cornerstone of modern energy infrastructure, and there is a trend towards using more RESs and decentralization, resulting in increased self-sufficiency. Additionally, ESS is increasingly being installed at or close to the point of energy generation and consumption, like within residences, buildings, or community microgrids, instead of at centralized utility-scale facilities, referred to be decentralized. By storing and using energy in the same location, this localized deployment reduces transmission losses, facilitates quicker response to changes in demand, and promotes local autonomy in energy management. Since the production of renewable energy is naturally spread, decentralizing storage is crucial to optimizing efficiency and dependability. This article also focuses on energy storage systems, highlighting the role and scope of ESSs along with the services of ESSs in different parts of the power system network, particularly in renewable energy communities (RECs). The classification of various ESS technologies and their key features, limitations, and applications is discussed following the current technological and significant information trends and discussing the ESS types for the RECs with different options as per the capacity, like small, medium, and large scale. It covers the overall scenario and progress, like overall European ESS installed capacity, and the work relevant to ESSs in RECs with different aspects, following the literature review. Additionally, it draws attention to the gaps and significant challenges related to ESS technologies and their deployment. Key future suggestions have also been given as per the current trends of technological information and significant information that may affect those trends globally in the future and would be helpful in the growth of ESSs integration in RECs. The authors also suggest the role of the government, stakeholders, and supportive policies that can aid in the implementation of ESS technologies in RECs.

Suggested Citation

  • Shoaib Ahmed & Antonio D’Angola, 2025. "Energy Storage Systems: Scope, Technologies, Characteristics, Progress, Challenges, and Future Suggestions—Renewable Energy Community Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-32, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:11:p:2679-:d:1661878
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/11/2679/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/11/2679/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Minelli, Federico & Ciriello, Ilaria & Minichiello, Francesco & D'Agostino, Diana, 2024. "From Net Zero Energy Buildings to an energy sharing model - The role of NZEBs in Renewable Energy Communities," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    2. Bartolini, Andrea & Carducci, Francesco & Muñoz, Carlos Boigues & Comodi, Gabriele, 2020. "Energy storage and multi energy systems in local energy communities with high renewable energy penetration," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 595-609.
    3. Shoaib Ahmed & Amjad Ali & Antonio D’Angola, 2024. "A Review of Renewable Energy Communities: Concepts, Scope, Progress, Challenges, and Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-34, February.
    4. Wanessa Guedes & Lucas Deotti & Bruno Dias & Tiago Soares & Leonardo Willer de Oliveira, 2022. "Community Energy Markets with Battery Energy Storage Systems: A General Modeling with Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-22, October.
    5. Siraj Sabihuddin & Aristides E. Kiprakis & Markus Mueller, 2014. "A Numerical and Graphical Review of Energy Storage Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-45, December.
    6. Bianchi, F.R. & Bosio, B. & Conte, F. & Massucco, S. & Mosaico, G. & Natrella, G. & Saviozzi, M., 2023. "Modelling and optimal management of renewable energy communities using reversible solid oxide cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    7. Jed Cohen, Klaus Moeltner, Johannes Reichl and Michael Schmidthaler, 2016. "An Empirical Analysis of Local Opposition to New Transmission Lines Across the EU-27," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    8. Eklas Hossain & Hossain Mansur Resalat Faruque & Md. Samiul Haque Sunny & Naeem Mohammad & Nafiu Nawar, 2020. "A Comprehensive Review on Energy Storage Systems: Types, Comparison, Current Scenario, Applications, Barriers, and Potential Solutions, Policies, and Future Prospects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-127, July.
    9. Colarullo, Linda & Thakur, Jagruti, 2022. "Second-life EV batteries for stationary storage applications in Local Energy Communities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    10. Farhan H. Malik & Ghulam A. Hussain & Yahia M. S. Alsmadi & Zunaib M. Haider & Wathiq Mansoor & Matti Lehtonen, 2025. "Integrating Energy Storage Technologies with Renewable Energy Sources: A Pathway Toward Sustainable Power Grids," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-32, May.
    11. Walker, Gordon, 2008. "What are the barriers and incentives for community-owned means of energy production and use?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4401-4405, December.
    12. Berg, Kjersti & Foslie, Sverre Stefanussen & Farahmand, Hossein, 2024. "Industrial energy communities: Energy storage investment, grid impact and cost distribution," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 373(C).
    13. Grigorios L. Kyriakopoulos, 2022. "Energy Communities Overview: Managerial Policies, Economic Aspects, Technologies, and Models," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-45, November.
    14. Hannan, M.A. & Hoque, M.M. & Mohamed, A. & Ayob, A., 2017. "Review of energy storage systems for electric vehicle applications: Issues and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 771-789.
    15. Zacharie De Grève & Jérémie Bottieau & David Vangulick & Aurélien Wautier & Pierre-David Dapoz & Adriano Arrigo & Jean-François Toubeau & François Vallée, 2020. "Machine Learning Techniques for Improving Self-Consumption in Renewable Energy Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    16. Giacomo Talluri & Gabriele Maria Lozito & Francesco Grasso & Carlos Iturrino Garcia & Antonio Luchetta, 2021. "Optimal Battery Energy Storage System Scheduling within Renewable Energy Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-23, December.
    17. Azarova, Valeriya & Cohen, Jed & Friedl, Christina & Reichl, Johannes, 2019. "Designing local renewable energy communities to increase social acceptance: Evidence from a choice experiment in Austria, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1176-1183.
    18. Baghaee, H.R. & Mirsalim, M. & Gharehpetian, G.B. & Talebi, H.A., 2016. "Reliability/cost-based multi-objective Pareto optimal design of stand-alone wind/PV/FC generation microgrid system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P1), pages 1022-1041.
    19. Walker, Gordon & Devine-Wright, Patrick, 2008. "Community renewable energy: What should it mean," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 497-500, February.
    20. Eid Gul & Giorgio Baldinelli & Pietro Bartocci, 2022. "Energy Transition: Renewable Energy-Based Combined Heat and Power Optimization Model for Distributed Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-18, September.
    21. Shoaib Ahmed & Amjad Ali & Alessandro Ciocia & Antonio D’Angola, 2024. "Technological Elements behind the Renewable Energy Community: Current Status, Existing Gap, Necessity, and Future Perspective—Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-40, June.
    22. Binod Prasad Koirala & José Pablo Chaves Ávila & Tomás Gómez & Rudi A. Hakvoort & Paulien M. Herder, 2016. "Local Alternative for Energy Supply: Performance Assessment of Integrated Community Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, November.
    23. Neves, Diana & Silva, Carlos A. & Connors, Stephen, 2014. "Design and implementation of hybrid renewable energy systems on micro-communities: A review on case studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 935-946.
    24. Zhou, Yuekuan & Lund, Peter D., 2023. "Peer-to-peer energy sharing and trading of renewable energy in smart communities ─ trading pricing models, decision-making and agent-based collaboration," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 177-193.
    25. Casalicchio, Valeria & Manzolini, Giampaolo & Prina, Matteo Giacomo & Moser, David, 2022. "From investment optimization to fair benefit distribution in renewable energy community modelling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    26. Raimondi, Giulio & Spazzafumo, Giuseppe, 2023. "Exploring Renewable Energy Communities integration through a hydrogen Power-to-Power system in Italy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 710-721.
    27. Roberts Lazdins & Anna Mutule & Diana Zalostiba, 2021. "PV Energy Communities—Challenges and Barriers from a Consumer Perspective: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-20, August.
    28. Das, Choton K. & Bass, Octavian & Kothapalli, Ganesh & Mahmoud, Thair S. & Habibi, Daryoush, 2018. "Overview of energy storage systems in distribution networks: Placement, sizing, operation, and power quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1205-1230.
    29. Li, Na & Okur, Özge, 2023. "Economic analysis of energy communities: Investment options and cost allocation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 336(C).
    30. Alva, Guruprasad & Lin, Yaxue & Fang, Guiyin, 2018. "An overview of thermal energy storage systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 341-378.
    31. Luka Budin & Marko Delimar, 2025. "Renewable Energy Community Sizing Based on Stochastic Optimization and Unsupervised Clustering," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-25, January.
    32. Luo, Xing & Wang, Jihong & Dooner, Mark & Clarke, Jonathan, 2015. "Overview of current development in electrical energy storage technologies and the application potential in power system operation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 511-536.
    33. Hen Friman & Ifaa Banner & Yafa Sitbon & Yulia Einav & Nava Shaked, 2022. "Preparing the Public Opinion in the Community to Accept Distributed Energy Systems and Renewable Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, June.
    34. AlShafi, Manal & Bicer, Yusuf, 2021. "Thermodynamic performance comparison of various energy storage systems from source-to-electricity for renewable energy resources," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    35. Koirala, Binod Prasad & Koliou, Elta & Friege, Jonas & Hakvoort, Rudi A. & Herder, Paulien M., 2016. "Energetic communities for community energy: A review of key issues and trends shaping integrated community energy systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 722-744.
    36. Wade, N.S. & Taylor, P.C. & Lang, P.D. & Jones, P.R., 2010. "Evaluating the benefits of an electrical energy storage system in a future smart grid," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 7180-7188, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shoaib Ahmed & Amjad Ali & Alessandro Ciocia & Antonio D’Angola, 2024. "Technological Elements behind the Renewable Energy Community: Current Status, Existing Gap, Necessity, and Future Perspective—Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-40, June.
    2. Shoaib Ahmed & Amjad Ali & Antonio D’Angola, 2024. "A Review of Renewable Energy Communities: Concepts, Scope, Progress, Challenges, and Recommendations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-34, February.
    3. Gawusu, Sidique, 2024. "Evolving energy landscapes: A computational analysis of the determinants of energy poverty," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    4. Petrovich, Beatrice & Kubli, Merla, 2023. "Energy communities for companies: Executives’ preferences for local and renewable energy procurement," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    5. Koirala, Binod Prasad & van Oost, Ellen & van der Windt, Henny, 2018. "Community energy storage: A responsible innovation towards a sustainable energy system?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 570-585.
    6. Roberta Roberto & Gabriella Ferruzzi & Viviana Negro & Michel Noussan, 2023. "Mapping of Energy Community Development in Europe: State of the Art and Research Directions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-29, September.
    7. Binod Prasad Koirala & Ellen van Oost & Henny van der Windt, 2020. "Innovation Dynamics of Socio-Technical Alignment in Community Energy Storage: The Cases of DrTen and Ecovat," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-22, June.
    8. Cavana, G. & Becchio, C. & Bottero, M., 2025. "Feasibility and evolution studies on renewable energy communities in cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    9. Klein, Sharon J.W. & Coffey, Stephanie, 2016. "Building a sustainable energy future, one community at a time," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 867-880.
    10. de Wildt, T.E. & Chappin, E.J.L. & van de Kaa, G. & Herder, P.M. & van de Poel, I.R., 2019. "Conflicting values in the smart electricity grid a comprehensive overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 184-196.
    11. Martin, Nigel & Rice, John, 2021. "Power outages, climate events and renewable energy: Reviewing energy storage policy and regulatory options for Australia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    12. Vallecha, Harshit & Bhattacharjee, Debraj & Osiri, John Kalu & Bhola, Prabha, 2021. "Evaluation of barriers and enablers through integrative multicriteria decision mapping: Developing sustainable community energy in Indian context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    13. Haji Bashi, Mazaher & De Tommasi, Luciano & Le Cam, Andreea & Relaño, Lorena Sánchez & Lyons, Padraig & Mundó, Joana & Pandelieva-Dimova, Ivanka & Schapp, Henrik & Loth-Babut, Karolina & Egger, Christ, 2023. "A review and mapping exercise of energy community regulatory challenges in European member states based on a survey of collective energy actors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    14. Romero-Castro, Noelia & Piñeiro-Chousa, Juan & Pérez-Pico, Ada, 2021. "Dealing with heterogeneity and complexity in the analysis of the willingness to invest in community renewable energy in rural areas," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    15. Javanshir Fouladvand & Niek Mouter & Amineh Ghorbani & Paulien Herder, 2020. "Formation and Continuation of Thermal Energy Community Systems: An Explorative Agent-Based Model for the Netherlands," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-22, June.
    16. Cristina Acosta & Mariana Ortega & Till Bunsen & Binod Prasad Koirala & Amineh Ghorbani, 2018. "Facilitating Energy Transition through Energy Commons: An Application of Socio-Ecological Systems Framework for Integrated Community Energy Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-15, January.
    17. Olabi, A.G. & Wilberforce, Tabbi & Sayed, Enas Taha & Abo-Khalil, Ahmed G. & Maghrabie, Hussein M. & Elsaid, Khaled & Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali, 2022. "Battery energy storage systems and SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis of batteries in power transmission," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).
    18. Li, Na & Hakvoort, Rudi A. & Lukszo, Zofia, 2022. "Cost allocation in integrated community energy systems — Performance assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    19. Binod Prasad Koirala & José Pablo Chaves Ávila & Tomás Gómez & Rudi A. Hakvoort & Paulien M. Herder, 2016. "Local Alternative for Energy Supply: Performance Assessment of Integrated Community Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-24, November.
    20. Mahzouni, Arian, 2019. "The role of institutional entrepreneurship in emerging energy communities: The town of St. Peter in Germany," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 297-308.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:11:p:2679-:d:1661878. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.