Sizing and dispatching of local energy communities to assess their potential economic impact through regulation and community design

Abstract

The rise of distributed energy resources due to their rapid cost reduction is leading to the appearance of new business models in the domain of energy sharing and local energy communities (LECs). Proper integration of local energy communities into the existing system is facing many challenges. One of those challenges is to assess the technical and economic feasibility of LECs from a double perspective, i.e. from the prosumer and community perspective and from the DSO perspective. This paper describes a model that assesses the technico-economic feasibility of LECs. An illustrative case in the French context is further analysed to show how the legal and regulatory framework is a key aspect to find the right balance between the different actors (community members, market players & distribution system operators).