IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/enp/wpaper/eprg1812.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unintended consequences: The snowball effect of energy communities

Author

Listed:
  • Ibrahim Abada

    (ENGIE)

  • Andreas Ehrenmann

    (ENGIE, EPRG)

  • Xavier Lambin

    (Toulouse School of Economics)

Abstract

Following the development of decentralized generation and smart appliances, energy communities have become a phenomenon of increased interest. While the benefits of such communities have been discussed, there is increasing concern that inadequate grid tariffs may lead to excess adoption of such business models. Furthermore, snowball effects may be observed following the effects these communities have on grid tariffs. We show that restraining the study to a simple cost-benefit analysis is far from satisfactory. Therefore, we use the framework of cooperative game theory to take account of the ability of communities to share gains between members. The interaction between energy communities and the DSO then results in a non-cooperative equilibrium. We provide mathematical formulations and intuitions of such effects, and carry out realistic numerical applications where communities can invest jointly in solar panels and batteries. We show that such a snowball effect may be observed, but its magnitude and its welfare effects will depend on the grid tariff structure that is implemented, leading to possible PV over-investments.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Ibrahim Abada & Andreas Ehrenmann & Xavier Lambin, 2018. "Unintended consequences: The snowball effect of energy communities," Working Papers EPRG 1812, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:enp:wpaper:eprg1812
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/eprg-wp1812.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hervé Moulin & Scott Shenker, 2001. "Strategyproof sharing of submodular costs:budget balance versus efficiency," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 18(3), pages 511-533.
    2. Moulin, Herve, 2002. "Axiomatic cost and surplus sharing," Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, in: K. J. Arrow & A. K. Sen & K. Suzumura (ed.), Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 289-357, Elsevier.
    3. Lopes, Rui Amaral & Martins, João & Aelenei, Daniel & Lima, Celson Pantoja, 2016. "A cooperative net zero energy community to improve load matching," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-13.
    4. Lo Prete, Chiara & Hobbs, Benjamin F., 2016. "A cooperative game theoretic analysis of incentives for microgrids in regulated electricity markets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 524-541.
    5. Hoppmann, Joern & Volland, Jonas & Schmidt, Tobias S. & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2014. "The economic viability of battery storage for residential solar photovoltaic systems – A review and a simulation model," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1101-1118.
    6. Massol, Olivier & Tchung-Ming, Stéphane, 2010. "Cooperation among liquefied natural gas suppliers: Is rationalization the sole objective?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 933-947, July.
    7. SCHMEIDLER, David, 1969. "The nucleolus of a characteristic function game," LIDAM Reprints CORE 44, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    8. Severin Borenstein & Lucas W. Davis, 2012. "The Equity and Efficiency of Two-Part Tariffs in U.S. Natural Gas Markets," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 75-128.
    9. Eid, Cherrelle & Reneses Guillén, Javier & Frías Marín, Pablo & Hakvoort, Rudi, 2014. "The economic effect of electricity net-metering with solar PV: Consequences for network cost recovery, cross subsidies and policy objectives," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 244-254.
    10. Abada, I. & Ehrenmann, A. & Lambin, X., 2017. "On the viability of energy communities," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1740, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    11. Pierru, Axel, 2007. "Allocating the CO2 emissions of an oil refinery with Aumann-Shapley prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 563-577, May.
    12. Basak, Prasenjit & Chowdhury, S. & Halder nee Dey, S. & Chowdhury, S.P., 2012. "A literature review on integration of distributed energy resources in the perspective of control, protection and stability of microgrid," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 5545-5556.
    13. Ronald H. Coase, 2006. "The Marginal Cost Controversy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Christis Tombazos & Xiaokai Yang (ed.), Inframarginal Contributions To Development Economics, chapter 2, pages 29-46, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Brown, Toby & Faruqui, Ahmad & Grausz, Léa, 2015. "Efficient tariff structures for distribution network services," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 139-149.
    15. Comodi, Gabriele & Giantomassi, Andrea & Severini, Marco & Squartini, Stefano & Ferracuti, Francesco & Fonti, Alessandro & Nardi Cesarini, Davide & Morodo, Matteo & Polonara, Fabio, 2015. "Multi-apartment residential microgrid with electrical and thermal storage devices: Experimental analysis and simulation of energy management strategies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 854-866.
    16. Ignacio J. Pérez-Arriaga, Jesse D. Jenkins, and Carlos Batlle, 2017. "A regulatory framework for an evolving electricity sector: Highlights of the MIT utility of the future study," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    17. Andreoni, James, 1989. "Giving with Impure Altruism: Applications to Charity and Ricardian Equivalence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(6), pages 1447-1458, December.
    18. Lo Prete, Chiara & Hobbs, Benjamin F. & Norman, Catherine S. & Cano-Andrade, Sergio & Fuentes, Alejandro & von Spakovsky, Michael R. & Mili, Lamine, 2012. "Sustainability and reliability assessment of microgrids in a regional electricity market," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 192-202.
    19. Lidula, N.W.A. & Rajapakse, A.D., 2011. "Microgrids research: A review of experimental microgrids and test systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 186-202, January.
    20. Baumol, William J & Bradford, David F, 1970. "Optimal Departures from Marginal Cost Pricing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 265-283, June.
    21. Kellner, Florian, 2016. "Allocating greenhouse gas emissions to shipments in road freight transportation: Suggestions for a global carbon accounting standard," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 565-575.
    22. Passey, Robert & Haghdadi, Navid & Bruce, Anna & MacGill, Iain, 2017. "Designing more cost reflective electricity network tariffs with demand charges," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 642-649.
    23. Costa, Paulo Moisés & Matos, Manuel A. & Peças Lopes, J.A., 2008. "Regulation of microgeneration and microgrids," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 3893-3904, October.
    24. Martin S. Feldstein, 1972. "Equity and Efficiency in Public Sector Pricing: The Optimal Two-Part Tariff," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 86(2), pages 175-187.
    25. Schittekatte, Tim & Momber, Ilan & Meeus, Leonardo, 2018. "Future-proof tariff design: Recovering sunk grid costs in a world where consumers are pushing back," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 484-498.
    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. Cortade, Thomas & Poudou, Jean-Christophe, 2022. "Peer-to-peer energy platforms: Incentives for prosuming," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    2. 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.

    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. Ibrahim Abada, Andreas Ehrenmann, and Xavier Lambin, 2020. "On the Viability of Energy Communities," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1).
    2. Abada, I. & Ehrenmann, A. & Lambin, X., 2017. "On the viability of energy communities," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1740, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    3. Abada, Ibrahim & Ehrenmann, Andreas & Lambin, Xavier, 2020. "Unintended consequences: The snowball effect of energy communities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    4. Hoarau, Quentin & Perez, Yannick, 2019. "Network tariff design with prosumers and electromobility: Who wins, who loses?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 26-39.
    5. Li, Na & Hakvoort, Rudi A. & Lukszo, Zofia, 2021. "Cost allocation in integrated community energy systems - A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Lo Prete, Chiara & Hobbs, Benjamin F., 2016. "A cooperative game theoretic analysis of incentives for microgrids in regulated electricity markets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 524-541.
    7. Lu, Yucun & Gorrasi, Chiara & Meus, Jelle & Bruninx, Kenneth & Delarue, Erik, 2024. "System-wide benefits of temporal alignment of wholesale–retail electricity prices," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 373(C).
    8. Vaughan, Jim & Doumen, Sjoerd C. & Kok, Koen, 2023. "Empowering tomorrow, controlling today: A multi-criteria assessment of distribution grid tariff designs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).
    9. Miguel Carpintero-Rentería & David Santos-Martín & Josep M. Guerrero, 2019. "Microgrids Literature Review through a Layers Structure," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-22, November.
    10. Savelli, Iacopo & Morstyn, Thomas, 2021. "Electricity prices and tariffs to keep everyone happy: A framework for fixed and nodal prices coexistence in distribution grids with optimal tariffs for investment cost recovery," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    11. Fridgen, Gilbert & Kahlen, Micha & Ketter, Wolfgang & Rieger, Alexander & Thimmel, Markus, 2018. "One rate does not fit all: An empirical analysis of electricity tariffs for residential microgrids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 800-814.
    12. Freitas Gomes, Icaro Silvestre & Perez, Yannick & Suomalainen, Emilia, 2020. "Coupling small batteries and PV generation: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    13. Claudia Gunther & Wolf-Peter Schill & Alexander Zerrahn, 2019. "Prosumage of solar electricity: tariff design, capacity investments, and power system effects," Papers 1907.09855, arXiv.org.
    14. Günther, Claudia & Schill, Wolf-Peter & Zerrahn, Alexander, 2021. "Prosumage of solar electricity: Tariff design, capacity investments, and power sector effects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    15. Miguel Manuel de Villena & Raphael Fonteneau & Axel Gautier & Damien Ernst, 2019. "Evaluating the Evolution of Distribution Networks under Different Regulatory Frameworks with Multi-Agent Modelling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, March.
    16. Saumweber, Andrea & Wederhake, Lars & Cardoso, Gonçalo & Fridgen, Gilbert & Heleno, Miguel, 2021. "Designing Pareto optimal electricity retail rates when utility customers are prosumers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    17. Beaufils, Timothé & Pineau, Pierre-Olivier, 2019. "Assessing the impact of residential load profile changes on electricity distribution utility revenues under alternative rate structures," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    18. Md Mainul Islam & Mahmood Nagrial & Jamal Rizk & Ali Hellany, 2021. "General Aspects, Islanding Detection, and Energy Management in Microgrids: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-45, August.
    19. Küfeoğlu, Sinan & Pollitt, Michael G., 2019. "The impact of PVs and EVs on domestic electricity network charges: A case study from Great Britain," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 412-424.
    20. Severin Borenstein & Lucas W. Davis, 2012. "The Equity and Efficiency of Two-Part Tariffs in U.S. Natural Gas Markets," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(1), pages 75-128.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy communities; Cooperative game theory; Non-cooperative game theory; Decentralized power production; Consumer participation; Micro-grids;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q49 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:enp:wpaper:eprg1812. 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: Ruth Newman (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/jicamuk.html .

    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.