IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i9p4993-d798917.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Different Technologies’ Impacts on the Economic Viability, Energy Flows and Emissions of Energy Communities

Author

Listed:
  • Bernadette Fina

    (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Giefinggasse 4, 1210 Vienna, Austria
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Miriam Schwebler

    (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Giefinggasse 4, 1210 Vienna, Austria
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Carolin Monsberger

    (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Giefinggasse 4, 1210 Vienna, Austria
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide insights regarding the economic viability of and energy flows within a renewable energy community based on a linear optimisation model with peer-to-peer electricity trading. Different technologies, such as PV, heat pumps, electric vehicles, and a community battery storage, are modelled. With the objective of achieving a cost-optimal solution for the whole community, the individual impacts of different technologies, as well as their permutations, are investigated. Therefrom, financial and environmental advantages and disadvantages for individual participants and the whole community can be derived. The results indicate that customers who are equipped with a combination of PV systems, heat pumps, and EVs achieve better individual results compared to those with lower levels of technology. Especially when heat pumps are involved, the amounts of PV electricity generated can be used with high efficiency, increasing the benefits of energy community participation. Moreover, the higher the level of electricity-based technologies within the community is, the lower the conventional grid feed-in becomes. An additional implementation of a community battery storage can further reduce these amounts and, thus, the grid burden. Apart from the financial benefits, the installation of additional assets and, thus, reduced grid feed-in contribute to the reduction of CO 2 -emissions. This study’s results can aid in making decisions regarding investments and energy community composition, as well as in the funding decisions of policymakers.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernadette Fina & Miriam Schwebler & Carolin Monsberger, 2022. "Different Technologies’ Impacts on the Economic Viability, Energy Flows and Emissions of Energy Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4993-:d:798917
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4993/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/4993/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jenny Palm, 2021. "The Transposition of Energy Communities into Swedish Regulations: Overview and Critique of Emerging Regulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-15, August.
    2. Piselli, Cristina & Salvadori, Giacomo & Diciotti, Lorenzo & Fantozzi, Fabio & Pisello, Anna Laura, 2021. "Assessing users’ willingness-to-engagement towards Net Zero Energy communities in Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Giovanni Bianco & Barbara Bonvini & Stefano Bracco & Federico Delfino & Paola Laiolo & Giorgio Piazza, 2021. "Key Performance Indicators for an Energy Community Based on Sustainable Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Dorian Frieden & Andreas Tuerk & Ana Rita Antunes & Vasilakis Athanasios & Alexandros-Georgios Chronis & Stanislas d’Herbemont & Mislav Kirac & Rita Marouço & Camilla Neumann & Esteban Pastor Catalayu, 2021. "Are We on the Right Track? Collective Self-Consumption and Energy Communities in the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-26, November.
    5. Caroline Hachem-Vermette & Kuljeet Singh, 2022. "Energy Systems and Energy Sharing in Traditional and Sustainable Archetypes of Urban Developments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-22, January.
    6. Karunathilake, Hirushie & Hewage, Kasun & Mérida, Walter & Sadiq, Rehan, 2019. "Renewable energy selection for net-zero energy communities: Life cycle based decision making under uncertainty," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 558-573.
    7. Mehmet Efe Biresselioglu & Siyami Alp Limoncuoglu & Muhittin Hakan Demir & Johannes Reichl & Katrin Burgstaller & Alessandro Sciullo & Edoardo Ferrero, 2021. "Legal Provisions and Market Conditions for Energy Communities in Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey: A Comparative Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-25, October.
    8. Bauwens, Thomas, 2016. "Explaining the diversity of motivations behind community renewable energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 278-290.
    9. Bernadette Fina & Hubert Fechner, 2021. "Transposition of European Guidelines for Energy Communities into Austrian Law: A Comparison and Discussion of Issues and Positive Aspects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, June.
    10. Woo, JongRoul & Chung, Sungsam & Lee, Chul-Yong & Huh, Sung-Yoon, 2019. "Willingness to participate in community-based renewable energy projects: A contingent valuation study in South Korea," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 643-652.
    11. Johannes Radl & Andreas Fleischhacker & Frida Huglen Revheim & Georg Lettner & Hans Auer, 2020. "Comparison of Profitability of PV Electricity Sharing in Renewable Energy Communities in Selected European Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-24, September.
    12. Bernadette Fina & Hans Auer, 2020. "Economic Viability of Renewable Energy Communities under the Framework of the Renewable Energy Directive Transposed to Austrian Law," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-31, November.
    13. Shabtai Isaac & Slava Shubin & Gad Rabinowitz, 2020. "Cost-Optimal Net Zero Energy Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, March.
    14. Fina, Bernadette & Auer, Hans & Friedl, Werner, 2019. "Profitability of PV sharing in energy communities: Use cases for different settlement patterns," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    15. Liu, Jia & Yang, Hongxing & Zhou, Yuekuan, 2021. "Peer-to-peer trading optimizations on net-zero energy communities with energy storage of hydrogen and battery vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 302(C).
    16. Cosic, Armin & Stadler, Michael & Mansoor, Muhammad & Zellinger, Michael, 2021. "Mixed-integer linear programming based optimization strategies for renewable energy communities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    17. Wouter Schram & Atse Louwen & Ioannis Lampropoulos & Wilfried van Sark, 2019. "Comparison of the Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Potential of Energy Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-23, November.
    18. Amollo Ambole & Kweku Koranteng & Peris Njoroge & Douglas Logedi Luhangala, 2021. "A Review of Energy Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa as a Transition Pathway to Energy Democracy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    19. Liu, Jia & Yang, Hongxing & Zhou, Yuekuan, 2021. "Peer-to-peer energy trading of net-zero energy communities with renewable energy systems integrating hydrogen vehicle storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    20. Jon Kellett, 2007. "Community-based energy policy: A practical approach to carbon reduction," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 381-396.
    21. Hahnel, Ulf J.J. & Herberz, Mario & Pena-Bello, Alejandro & Parra, David & Brosch, Tobias, 2020. "Becoming prosumer: Revealing trading preferences and decision-making strategies in peer-to-peer energy communities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    22. Fleischhacker, Andreas & Lettner, Georg & Schwabeneder, Daniel & Auer, Hans, 2019. "Portfolio optimization of energy communities to meet reductions in costs and emissions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 1092-1105.
    23. Jing Wang & Kaitlyn Garifi & Kyri Baker & Wangda Zuo & Yingchen Zhang & Sen Huang & Draguna Vrabie, 2020. "Optimal Renewable Resource Allocation and Load Scheduling of Resilient Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-29, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hassan Khazaei & Hossein Aghamohammadloo & Milad Habibi & Mehdi Mehdinejad & Amin Mohammadpour Shotorbani, 2023. "Novel Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Gas and Electricity Transaction Market between Prosumers and Retailers Considering Integrated Demand Response Programs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Francesca Ceglia & Elisa Marrasso & Samiran Samanta & Maurizio Sasso, 2022. "Addressing Energy Poverty in the Energy Community: Assessment of Energy, Environmental, Economic, and Social Benefits for an Italian Residential Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Alyssa Diva Mustika & Rémy Rigo-Mariani & Vincent Debusschere & Amaury Pachurka, 2022. "New Members Selection for the Expansion of Energy Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-15, September.

    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. Sebastian Zwickl-Bernhard & Hans Auer, 2021. "Citizen Participation in Low-Carbon Energy Systems: Energy Communities and Its Impact on the Electricity Demand on Neighborhood and National Level," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-22, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Fouladvand, Javanshir & Aranguren Rojas, Maria & Hoppe, Thomas & Ghorbani, Amineh, 2022. "Simulating thermal energy community formation: Institutional enablers outplaying technological choice," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    4. Ana Ogando-Martínez & Xela García-Santiago & Saúl Díaz García & Fernando Echevarría Camarero & Gonzalo Blázquez Gil & Pablo Carrasco Ortega, 2023. "Optimization of Energy Allocation Strategies in Spanish Collective Self-Consumption Photovoltaic Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, June.
    5. Felice, Alex & Rakocevic, Lucija & Peeters, Leen & Messagie, Maarten & Coosemans, Thierry & Ramirez Camargo, Luis, 2022. "Renewable energy communities: Do they have a business case in Flanders?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    6. Maria Rosaria Di Nucci & Michael Krug & Lucas Schwarz & Vincenzo Gatta & Erik Laes, 2023. "Learning from Other Community Renewable Energy Projects: Transnational Transfer of Multi-Functional Energy Gardens from the Netherlands to Germany," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-24, April.
    7. 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.
    8. Bernadette Fina & Hubert Fechner, 2021. "Transposition of European Guidelines for Energy Communities into Austrian Law: A Comparison and Discussion of Issues and Positive Aspects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-14, June.
    9. Lubov Petrichenko & Antans Sauhats & Illia Diahovchenko & Irina Segeda, 2022. "Economic Viability of Energy Communities versus Distributed Prosumers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-24, April.
    10. Volpato, Gabriele & Carraro, Gianluca & Cont, Marco & Danieli, Piero & Rech, Sergio & Lazzaretto, Andrea, 2022. "General guidelines for the optimal economic aggregation of prosumers in energy communities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    11. Johannes Radl & Andreas Fleischhacker & Frida Huglen Revheim & Georg Lettner & Hans Auer, 2020. "Comparison of Profitability of PV Electricity Sharing in Renewable Energy Communities in Selected European Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-24, September.
    12. Gianfranco Di Lorenzo & Erika Stracqualursi & Leonardo Micheli & Luigi Martirano & Rodolfo Araneo, 2022. "Challenges in Energy Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-5, October.
    13. Michael Krug & Maria Rosaria Di Nucci & Matteo Caldera & Elena De Luca, 2022. "Mainstreaming Community Energy: Is the Renewable Energy Directive a Driver for Renewable Energy Communities in Germany and Italy?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-24, June.
    14. Nima Narjabadifam & Javanshir Fouladvand & Mustafa Gül, 2023. "Critical Review on Community-Shared Solar—Advantages, Challenges, and Future Directions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-25, April.
    15. Michael Krug & Maria Rosaria Di Nucci & Lucas Schwarz & Irene Alonso & Isabel Azevedo & Massimo Bastiani & Anna Dyląg & Erik Laes & Arthur Hinsch & Gaidis Klāvs & Ivars Kudreņickis & Pouyan Maleki & G, 2023. "Implementing European Union Provisions and Enabling Frameworks for Renewable Energy Communities in Nine Countries: Progress, Delays, and Gaps," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-29, May.
    16. Bernadette Fina & Hans Auer, 2020. "Economic Viability of Renewable Energy Communities under the Framework of the Renewable Energy Directive Transposed to Austrian Law," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-31, November.
    17. Janota, Lukáš & Vávrová, Kamila & Weger, Jan & Knápek, Jaroslav & Králík, Tomáš, 2023. "Complex methodology for optimizing local energy supply and overall resilience of rural areas: A case study of Agrovoltaic system with Miscanthus x giganteus plantation within the energy community in t," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 738-750.
    18. Neska, Ewa & Kowalska-Pyzalska, Anna, 2022. "Conceptual design of energy market topologies for communities and their practical applications in EU: A comparison of three case studies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    19. Francesca Ceglia & Elisa Marrasso & Samiran Samanta & Maurizio Sasso, 2022. "Addressing Energy Poverty in the Energy Community: Assessment of Energy, Environmental, Economic, and Social Benefits for an Italian Residential Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    20. Ilaria Marotta & Francesco Guarino & Sonia Longo & Maurizio Cellura, 2021. "Environmental Sustainability Approaches and Positive Energy Districts: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-45, November.

    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:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4993-:d:798917. 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.