Community Energy for enhancing the energy transition

• Main Authors: Matteo Bilardo, Federico Cattaneo, Edoardo Dioni, Enrico Liberi, Luca Milocco, Gianluca Serale
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: CERN 2020-12-01
• Series: CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation
• Subjects: community energy; ce; renewable energy systems; prosumers; electricity distribution grid
• Online Access: https://e-publishing.cern.ch/index.php/CIJ/article/view/1050

In the process towards energy transition from fossil fuel based energy to renewables systems, the way to involve final users in the energy production is still complex. Although many steps forward have been made by community energy around the world and especially in the EU, there are still many barriers and entry obstacles that do not allow a revolution in the energy market. In this paper, various aspects that distinguish a community energy have been explored. After presenting a state of the art on the development of community energy in Europe, the technologies supporting these cooperative realities were studied. This work reports a complete analysis on renewable energy production systems, community management software and the most innovative user engagement tools. This paper also presents the results of a survey, with the aim of studying how people can be more involved in the energy market. The outcomes show how people needs should be considered, in order to increase awareness and control over the energy that they consume for a better development of future community energy.