Energy community as a driver of electrified city (ECADEC)

The reduction of fossil carbon emissions in the cities requires large-scale electrification of energy system, utilization of flexibility and energy saving in the energy system, buildings, and transportation. The availability of power capacity and sufficiency of electric and thermal energy on each of these levels is not self-evident, therefore the overall energy system consisting of multiple energy communities needs to be designed and managed by novel solutions, mechanisms, and processes. The realization of energy transition requires collaborative business between all stakeholders of energy communities and sector-integration. The management and organization of the energy system, from design to operation, enables business-oriented searching of synergy benefits, reduces fossil carbon emissions with affordable costs, and avoids the most serious conflict-of-interests between stakeholders. 

The main research problem of the project is how the energy community and sector-integration are going to change the city’s energy system, infrastructure, and its organization. The goal is to find how the fossil carbon dioxide emissions may be most effectively reduced in the entire system and how to get citizens to participate in the process and be part of the energy transition.

The consideration of energy communities as a key stakeholder in the energy system is still in the early phase of the development curve. The first demonstrations of energy communities exist, but still their internal business logic and drivers, technical and organizational design and operational questions are evolving. Different kind of experiments are necessary to learn the best practices. The situation related to energy community interactions with external stakeholders is in the very beginning. The potential synergies between stakeholders motivates to collaborate as early in the design as possible to look for solutions out-of-the-box.

The project assumes that the benefits of energy communities may evolve faster if the traditional centralized design and management of energy system is turned upside-down and the driving force for the energy transition comes from energy communities. This is called as a bottom-up approach. Individual citizens, organizations and companies want fast development in the energy transition and tailored and novel solutions are required to utilize available resources in best viable way. This also means that they need to have completely new knowledge and skills to manage complex interactions in the entire system to make appropriate investment decisions. The project is creating novel mechanisms to develop, design and operate energy communities utilizing the bottom-up approach. These mechanisms are related to collaborative development, design, and operating processes among all stakeholders.

• How the energy community and sector-integration are going to change the city’s energy system, infrastructure, and its organization
• How the fossil CO2 emissions may be most effectively reduced in the entire system
• How to get citizens to participate in the process and be part of the energy transition

• Energy system infrastructure investments and operating costs
• Energy investment and operating costs related to the buildings and electric transportation
• Indirect costs occurring at the societal level: fossil CO2 emissions, energy delivery interruptions, RES curtailment and cost of the space required by the infrastructures

• How energy communities are created and what legislative, business and technological means can be used to support their creation?
• Understand the entirety of energy system based on energy community involvement in energy system planning, operation, and collaboration with other stakeholders (roles and responsibilities)
• What kind of collaboration is enabled and what kind of synergies and tensions with other stakeholders may appear?
• What kind of new tools are needed to support energy community development, stakeholder interactions, collaborative planning and operation of energy sýstem and infrastructure to find common interests and thus reduce the risk of the overall system?