Upper-layer Post-processing Local Energy Bids and Offers from Neighbouring Energy Communities

Abstract

Future local energy trading schemes represent an important economic incentive for inclusion of distributed energy resources (DER) and flexibility in local energy communities. Nonetheless, trading schemes at the low voltage level are envisioned to result in unattended bids and offers of energy. In the absence of an alternative, these leftovers are expected to be captured by the supplier at a low price (in case of excess energy) and at a high price (in the case of energy requirements), which can represent significant economic benefits. This paper proposes a decentralised offline trading method to transfer this benefit from the supplier to the local energy communities using a minimum electrical distance criterion. Validation is made by running a year-long quasi-static time-series (QSTS) simulation with a resolution of one minute, using PV generation profiles, and four state-of-the-art DER allocation methods in the IEEE 33bus distribution test network. Results suggest that transferring these benefits can increase incomes up to 227% and decrease expenses up to 6.1% for local energy communities. Additionally, the sensitivity of the method to energy prices and market time step is studied.