Cover Page

Micro and Local Power Markets

Edited by

Andreas Sumper

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Barcelona, Spain

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List of Contributors

Íngrid Munné‐Collado

CITCEA‐UPC

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Barcelona

Spain

Pol Olivella‐Rosell

CITCEA‐UPC

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Barcelona

Spain

Andreas Sumper

CITCEA‐UPC

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Barcelona

Spain

Eduard Bullich‐Massagué

CITCEA‐UPC

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Barcelona

Spain

Mònica Aragüés‐Peñalba

CITCEA‐UPC

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Barcelona

Spain

Bernt Bremdal

University of Tromsø

Norway

and

Smart Innovation Norway

Halden

Norway

Iliana Ilieva

Smart Innovation Norway

Halden

Norway

Shahab Shariat Torbaghan

Unit Energy Technology

VITO NV/Energyville

Belgium

Madeleine Gibescu

Energy & Resources

Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development

Utrecht University

The Netherlands

Moritz Loock

Institute for Economy and the Environment (IWOE‐HSG)

University of St. Gallen

Tigerbergstrasse

Switzerland

Emmanuelle Reuter

Enterprise Institute (IENE‐UniNe)

University of Neuchâtel

Switzerland

Julia Cousse

Institute for Economy and the Environment (IWOE‐HSG)

University of St. Gallen

Tigerbergstrasse

Switzerland

Dirk Kuiken

Groningen Centre of Energy Law

University of Groningen

The Netherlands

Foreword

Technological developments in recent years have had a huge impact on the electric power system. The increasing share of distributed renewable generation, falling costs and technology improvements in energy storage devices, and accelerating use of electric vehicles have revolutionized what was previously a centralized and conservative power sector. These developments are further enhanced by changing customer behaviour. As electricity end‐users become increasingly aware of environmental challenges and ways to use innovative technologies, they gradually transform from passive consumers to active prosumers who can generate and store power on their own, and who may be willing to change their consumption or production pattern in response to flexibility requests.

Whether motivated by economic profit, potential savings, environmental considerations or pure social status aspects, end‐users have radically reshaped their role as passive utility customers. Most importantly, end‐users have demonstrated their willingness and ambition to be ‘active’ in cooperation with other electricity users, members of the same community. Common interest in renewable energy initiatives, financial savings, and value‐added services exhibited by local citizens has created the grounds for the establishment of innovative market structures, namely the local and micro power markets that this book focuses on.

Currently, there are multiple examples of local energy communities established across Europe. Research related to the implementation of local and micro power markets takes the local community trend further. By exploring market designs, business models, algorithms, and IT instruments to facilitate the local trade, end‐users, local utilities, and service providers are given a vital insight into what energy‐sustainable and locally efficient market participation could look like. The Horizon 2020 project EMPOWER, funded by the European Commission, has contributed greatly in this respect, demonstrating in practice the benefits and possibilities related to local energy trade within a neighbourhood. The positive and extensive experience gained through the EMPOWER project has motivated the creation of this book. Local and micro power markets should be considered not only as an effective and efficient way to help mitigate grid challenges, but also as a powerful tool to empower end‐user awareness and support the transition to a more sustainable future.

Head of Research and Innovation
at Smart Innovation Norway

Dieter Hirdes

Preface

More than five years ago, a small group of researchers from several European countries came together to prepare a European Horizon 2020 project. One key person in this process was Bernd Bremdal from Smart Innovation Norway; he had a very clear vision of a local electricity market for the exchange of local renewable sources in a neighbourhood. These initial ideas led to the project proposal of EMPOWER that was finally approved by the European Commission. The project was executed from 2015 until 2018. In the course of the project we identified the need to disseminate the insights and research done to promote the benefits of such a system. During the writing of this book, we identified contributers outside the project that could complement and enrich the content of the book. Consequently, the book contains also insights that did not result from the EMPOWER project.

The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 is dedicated to the fundamentals of the power markets, introducing the reader to the basic concepts of power markets and auction types. Chapter 2 introduces the concepts of local markets and micro markets, complemented by a comprehensive literature review. Chapter 3 addresses a micro market as a local market accommodated within a microgrid. It proposes five basic models for market mechanisms for micro markets. Chapter 4 deals with the interaction between local and wholesale power markets for the case where a local energy community is connected to the main grid. In Chapter 5 digital business models of micro and local power markets are analyzed. It focuses on business model opportunities in such power markets and on the factors that predict the models' diffusion and acceptance by local citizens. Finally, Chapter 6 presents the common principles of the regulatory issues of micro and local power markets. It describes the basics of market regulation and how regulation is applied to local and micro power markets.

The objective of this book is to disseminate the research done in this field and to provide the basis for novel approaches to bring local power markets closer to consumers.

Universitat Politècnica

de Catalunya/BarcelonaTech

Andreas Sumper