Local energy communities modelling and optimisation considering storage, demand configuration and sharing strategies: A case study in Valencia (Spain)

Local energy communities require tools to select their most fitting community members, power-sharing strategy and technologies for their goals. This work aims to develop a model and a methodology to optimise local energy communities. We evaluate the presence of a battery energy storage system with different capacities and ownership options. Besides, we test two different sharing strategies like static and variable coefficients. Finally, we characterise local energy communities' demand by comparing residential and commercial loads and varying the number of consumption points. We apply the method to a case study consisting of a 100 kWp photovoltaic installation in Valencia simulated with an hourly resolution for a whole year. We use real consumption data from households and commercial buildings and the current administrative requirements, obtaining the flows and status of each component within the local energy community at every moment. We assess each alternative's economic performance, autarchy degree, and the amount of avoided greenhouse gasses emissions. Results indicate that a local energy community well optimised can fulfil economic, environmental or self-consumption goals. Results only advise installing a storage to increase the degree of self-consumption. Moreover, we obtain the best financial and environmental results in large communities with a 75% residential consumption. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.