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

07/10/2024

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%.