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Technological Elements behind the Renewable Energy Community: Current Status, Existing Gap, Necessity, and Future Perspective—Overview

Author

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  • Shoaib Ahmed

    (School of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Via dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy)

  • Amjad Ali

    (Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (IRC-SES), King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia)

  • Alessandro Ciocia

    (Energy Department “Galileo Ferraris”, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24, 10129 Torino, Italy)

  • Antonio D’Angola

    (School of Engineering, University of Basilicata, Via dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy)

Abstract

The Renewable Energy Community (REC) in Europe promotes renewable energy sources (RESs), offering social, economic, and environmental benefits. This new entity could alter consumer energy relationships, requiring self-consumption, energy sharing, and full utilization of RESs. Modernizing energy systems within the REC requires addressing self-consumption, energy sharing, demand response, and energy management system initiatives. The paper discusses the role of decentralized energy systems, the scenarios of the REC concept and key aspects, and activities involving energy generation, energy consumption, energy storage systems, energy sharing, and EV technologies. Moreover, the present work highlights the research gap in the existing literature and the necessity of addressing the technological elements. It also highlights that there is no uniform architecture or model for the REC, like in the case of microgrids. Additionally, the present work emphasizes the role and importance of technological elements in RECs, suggesting future recommendations for EMS, DSM, data monitoring and analytics, communication systems, and the software or tools to ensure reliability, efficiency, economic, and environmental measures. The authors also highlight the crucial role of policymakers and relevant policies, which could help in implementing these technological elements and show the importance of the RECs for a sustainable energy shift and transition.

Suggested Citation

  • Shoaib Ahmed & Amjad Ali & Alessandro Ciocia & Antonio D’Angola, 2024. "Technological Elements behind the Renewable Energy Community: Current Status, Existing Gap, Necessity, and Future Perspective—Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-40, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:13:p:3100-:d:1420904
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