Optimizing Energy Communities

Nuno Filipe de Sousa e Rego

Key information

Authors:

Nuno Filipe de Sousa e Rego (Nuno Filipe de Sousa e Rego)

Supervisors:

Rui Manuel Gameiro de Castro (Rui Manuel Gameiro de Castro)

Published in

July 10, 2024

Abstract

Energy communities are emerging as an important solution for the way cities manage their energy. Energy communities can empower citizens to contribute first-hand to renewable energy projects and increase their energy self-sufficiency, lowering their electricity bills and carbon footprint significantly. This thesis developed a thorough and transparent model and methodology to optimise renewable energy communities, according to the most up-to-date national and international legislation. The model runs simulations for a 25-year long investment with an hourly resolution. This studied community features the sale of electricity surplus to an adjacent tertiary building and a novel peer-to-peer energy sharing mechanism in which prosumers trade electricity for free within the community. An individual self-consumption model was developed for comparison purposes. Ten households with very different types of residents were selected, allowing for variety in technical, economical and environmental results and conclusions. Results on a selected household show that the energy community without energy storage provides consumers with the best net present values of any investment, up to 14 806 €, since revenues can be as high as 432 € per year with reduced operation, maintenance and replacement costs. Investing in the energy community model paired with 40 kWh lithium-ion batteries reduces yearly electricity bills by a maximum of 1 670 € and allows consumers to reduce their energy dependency on the grid by 80%, thus reducing the CO2 emissions to 20%.