Impact of Different Regulatory Structures on the Management of Energy Communities

Abstract

The following paper aims to prove the importance of embedding the regulatory framework when analyzing the distributed generation activity of an energy community. At present, most of the scientific literature has focused on distributed energy, and energy communities address the issue of regulatory frameworks qualitatively. In this paper, the most representative regulatory frameworks devoted to the promotion of energy communities were analyzed and synthesized, namely, feed-in tariffs, net metering, and the self-consumption scheme. As a result, an algebraic model able to represent the essence of the regulatory structures related to those remuneration mechanisms was obtained. Next, this model was embedded into a physical model, based on real data, previously created. The resulting Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) was used to identify the implications of these frameworks. The results demonstrate the impact of regulatory schemes on energy management and economic results of an energy community. Indeed, profitability changes drastically depending on which remuneration scheme is applied to an energy community.

Keywords

• energy communities
• regulatory framework
• mathematical optimization
• distributed generation
• renewable energy
• microgrids