Load configuration impact on energy community and distribution grid: Quantifying costs, emissions and grid exchange

Energy communities are emerging across Europe, and each country is currently in the process of forming regulations for their integration into the electricity grid. The efficacy of energy communities depends upon various factors, including member demographics, technological aspects, load profiles, solar irradiation, and spot prices within the community’s geographical location. Notably, existing studies on energy communities predominantly focus on residential load profiles, with limited exploration into their impact on the distribution grid. This article aims to contribute to the existing literature by investigating the benefits of energy communities and their grid impact under diverse member configurations. Our approach involves the development of an optimisation model incorporating battery energy storage and shiftable loads, aimed at minimising the operational costs of energy communities over a one-year period. Case studies in Norway and Spain, with different load configurations: residential, commercial, and mixed load, are undertaken, utilising real hourly measurements to identify operational variations influenced by geographical location and seasonal fluctuations in load and photovoltaic (PV) generation. Additionally, we quantify the costs, CO2 emissions, and self-consumption rates for energy communities. Furthermore, we assess the distribution grid impact in terms of import and export dynamics. The results underscore the substantial influence of load configurations on member benefits and distribution grid impacts, attributable to the inherent correlation between load and PV generation. In the context of energy community benefits, commercial loads demonstrate the best outcomes in Norway, whereas residential loads exhibit superior results in Spain. Conversely, concerning distribution grid impact, commercial loads prove most advantageous in Norway, while mixed loads yield the best results in Spain. Overall, our findings indicate that Spanish energy communities consistently achieve more substantial reductions in costs and CO2 emissions compared to their Norwegian counterparts, irrespective of the load configuration. This study contributes valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders involved in the development and regulation of energy communities across Europe.