Energy Communities: Overview and Perspectives

Abstract By the directives of the European Union (EU), the Energy Community (EC) operates in the field of electricity production, distribution, supply, consumption management, aggregation, energy storage, provision of flexibility services, energy efficiency services, and charging services for electric vehicles. To achieve the above, it is necessary to clearly define the EC’s business models, technical design, and organizational structure. This paper will clarify the similarities and differences between the concepts of renewable energy communities and citizens’ energy communities through a comparative analysis. This paper provides an overview of the literature on ECs to create a picture of the current situation in this area. Likewise, the analysis of the literature gave a clear picture of who the possible members of the EC are, their mutual relations and the possible activities of the EC and the way of participating in the market. For an energy management system (EMS), the model of data exchange is given. This requires the exact mapping of EC within the SGAM, which includes communication and information standards. Also, the business models and functions of ECs are explained. For the selected use-cases, an analysis of the functionalities (activities) of the ECs is conducted.