Energy: ENEA presents first energy community model

ENEA presents the first Italian model of Renewable Energy Community (CER), an actual urban district self-producing and sharing energy and providing services to citizens.

"It’s a virtual microgrid combining energy production and consumption smartly and managing energy flows shared by multiple users based on the prosumer, citizen- consumer, i.e. who both produces and consumes energy", pointed out Stefano Pizzuti, head of ENEA Smart Energy Division.

The ENEA model acts as a facilitator of energy and socio-environmental services, thanks to an innovative platform based on blockchain technology. The details can be found in the open access publication Sustainable Urban Transitions, which presents products, solutions and technologies developed by the Agency in the smart city sector.

"The volume describes the technological tools ENEA has developed to provide solutions capable of creating a smart and interactive energy ecosystem, where energy exploitation -not just from renewable sources- can be shared by integrating energy, environmental, social, technological and economic aspects”, explained Paola Clerici Maestosi and Claudia Meloni, ENEA researchers of the Smart Energy Division and authors of the publication. “We are no longer dealing with 'simple' energy communities – they continued – but with actual urban districts managing local resources, aware of energy use, capable of planning and optimizing the use of energy based on supply and specific demand and exchange the energy surplus with neighboring communities".

The ENEA model consists of a platform capable of providing: energy, economic and financial assessments of the CERs or renewable energy self-consumption groups; energy consumption monitoring; tools for managing and enhancing virtuous behaviour. The data collected through sensors installed at end users and information from energy distributors and sellers enable to identify the most efficient consumption profiles. Furthermore, an exchange service for goods and services will give citizens the opportunity to exploit local resources with a view to sharing economy and reducing the environmental impact, shifting from ownership to usership.

"Our proposal can promote an innovative social model, becoming an engine of socio-economic and environmental development of urban areas", concluded Pizzuti.

To foster the development of new CERs, ENEA has developed RECON, an assessment tool available online to perform preliminary energy, economic and financial analyses in the residential sector. On the base of simple information like electricity consumption and plant characteristics, RECON estimates energy yield, environmental impact, self-consumption, energy sharing and cash flows. More than 3,000 users have adopted it so far, including universities and operators in the energy sector.

Stefano Pizzuti, ENEA – Head “Smart Energy” Division, 

 Open access book: “Transizioni urbane sostenibili”: ,

RECON: