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Cost versus Resilience in Energy Communities: A Multi-Objective Member-Focused Analysis

Lia Gruber, Sonja Wogrin

TL;DR

The paper tackles the cost versus resilience trade-off in energy communities (ECs) under REDII by formulating a multi-objective optimization that minimizes annual EC cost and maximizes resilience through transformer-peak reduction. It employs the augmented ε-constraint (AUGMECON) method to generate a Pareto frontier and introduces an ex-post energy allocation mechanism that accounts for different asset ownership (member-owned vs. community-owned). Three EC operation strategies are studied: fully member-owned assets, a communal battery energy storage system (BESS), and subsidies for energy-poor members. Key findings show that higher resilience increases costs and narrows feasible EC energy price ranges, PV owners are most affected by curtailment, and energy-poor subsidies can reduce the costs for those members by over 30%, highlighting the need for socially inclusive, grid-friendly EC designs.

Abstract

This paper develops a multi-objective optimization framework to analyze the trade-offs between annual costs and resilience in energy communities. Under this framework, three energy community operation strategies are analyzed: a reference case where all assets are member-owned, implementing a communal battery electric storage system, and subsidizing energy-poor members. The results indicate that increasing resilience leads to higher operational costs and smaller feasible ranges of energy community energy prices. The analysis reveals that those trade-offs have a heterogeneous impact across different member groups. Owners photovoltaics are most affected due to curtailed energy. Notably, the study shows that while implementing community-owned storage does not directly provide financial benefits to energy-poor members, alleviating the energy price for these members leads to an overall cost reduction of more than 30%. This research provides insights into the operational complexity of energy communities and highlights the importance of technologically robust and socially inclusive energy communities.

Cost versus Resilience in Energy Communities: A Multi-Objective Member-Focused Analysis

TL;DR

The paper tackles the cost versus resilience trade-off in energy communities (ECs) under REDII by formulating a multi-objective optimization that minimizes annual EC cost and maximizes resilience through transformer-peak reduction. It employs the augmented ε-constraint (AUGMECON) method to generate a Pareto frontier and introduces an ex-post energy allocation mechanism that accounts for different asset ownership (member-owned vs. community-owned). Three EC operation strategies are studied: fully member-owned assets, a communal battery energy storage system (BESS), and subsidies for energy-poor members. Key findings show that higher resilience increases costs and narrows feasible EC energy price ranges, PV owners are most affected by curtailment, and energy-poor subsidies can reduce the costs for those members by over 30%, highlighting the need for socially inclusive, grid-friendly EC designs.

Abstract

This paper develops a multi-objective optimization framework to analyze the trade-offs between annual costs and resilience in energy communities. Under this framework, three energy community operation strategies are analyzed: a reference case where all assets are member-owned, implementing a communal battery electric storage system, and subsidizing energy-poor members. The results indicate that increasing resilience leads to higher operational costs and smaller feasible ranges of energy community energy prices. The analysis reveals that those trade-offs have a heterogeneous impact across different member groups. Owners photovoltaics are most affected due to curtailed energy. Notably, the study shows that while implementing community-owned storage does not directly provide financial benefits to energy-poor members, alleviating the energy price for these members leads to an overall cost reduction of more than 30%. This research provides insights into the operational complexity of energy communities and highlights the importance of technologically robust and socially inclusive energy communities.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 23 sections, 30 equations, 14 figures, 4 algorithms.

Table of Contents

  1. Indices
  2. Parameter
  3. Variables
  4. Introduction
  5. Motivation
  6. Related Work and Contributions
  7. EC impact on the distribution grid
  8. Energy Poverty in ECs
  9. Multi-objective optimization of ECs
  10. Contributions
  11. Methodology
  12. Objective functions
  13. Multi-Objective Optimization
  14. Constraints
  15. Ex-Post energy allocation
  16. ...and 8 more sections

Figures (14)

  • Figure 1: Ex-Post process for analysis of Pareto front impact on the EC and its members.
  • Figure 2: EC energy price range boundaries.
  • Figure 3: Case study EC including grid topology, PV, EV and BESS allocation do members.
  • Figure 4: Pareto front of EC cost and resilience.
  • Figure 5: Operational Pareto front results: a) imports and exports, b) BESS production and demand, c) EV production and demand, d).
  • ...and 9 more figures