This research raises the possibility for households in energy poverty to participate in shared photovoltaic systems in renewable energy communities (REC) to reduce their energy costs, with investment costs covered by public institutions. It begins by evaluating the current solution for vulnerable households, which relies on public subsidies to lower energy costs without addressing root causes or improving environmental impacts. The study compares traditional subsidies with REC participation for vulnerable households. By simulating a REC composed of such households, the results indicate that REC participation is more cost-effective for public institutions than energy subsidies. At the economically optimal size of 31 kWp, the cost of subsidies decreases by 58,000 €, a 50% reduction, with household savings increasing by 6%. At 58 kWp, the need for additional support checks is eliminated, increasing household savings by 65% but with a lower NPV of 22,500 €. The largest viable system, 75 kWp, increases average household savings by 82%. This approach also leads to a net reduction in GHG emissions, engaging previously excluded households in the energy transition.

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This research raises the possibility for households in energy poverty to participate in energy communities to alleviate their energy costs, having their investment costs paid by public institutions. The study starts from the current solution for vulnerable households based on public subsidies to reduce energy costs, which neither addresses the problem's causes nor improves the residential energy systems' environmental profile. It compares the business-as-usual solution, energy checks, with the participation of vulnerable households in energy communities. We simulate a renewable energy community composed of vulnerable households to calculate the usefulness of this solution. he chosen vulnerable households are doubly vulnerable because they are older people experiencing social isolation and loneliness. The results show that participating in energy communities can be a better economic option for public institutions than paying energy subsidies. Moreover, most households increase their savings, and in all cases, it results in a net reduction of GHG emissions, engaging households unable to participate in their current situation in the energy transition.@en

This research aims to diagnose the energy performance of buildings in València and identify areas where energy efficiency can be improved. The energy performance results of all 129,487 EPCs in the city were mapped and compared to socioeconomic variables to gain insights into the reasons behind the results. The study reveals that the city's building stock has poor energy performance, attributed to the lack of building standards during the city's expansion in the 1960s and 1970s. The worst energy performances are observed in the peripheral districts, particularly in the city's northern half, where low-income and low-renting rates are common, resulting in reduced investment capacity for individuals to retrofit their homes. To promote quick dissemination of measures to retrofit households, they must be adequate, economical, and replicable, avoiding social, administrative, and economic barriers. The study highlights the importance of EPCs as an objective tool to diagnose the energy efficiency of a city's building stock. Policymakers can use the findings to identify areas that require improvements and evaluate the appropriate actions to improve the building stock's energy performance. This study presents significant potential to reduce buildings’ energy demand and achieve climate goals through EPCs.@en

Renewable energy sources such as PV solar or wind power are intermittent and non-dispatchable. Massive integration of these resources into the electric mix poses some challenges to meeting power generation with demand. Hence, improving power generation forecasting has raised much interest. This work assesses the market value of enhanced PV solar power generation forecasting. Then, we analyse the different agents present in the electricity system. We link the studied agents to the proposed market values based on both analyses. Improving the accuracy of RES forecasting has massive potential as the sector grows and new agents arise. It can have reactive values like reducing imbalances or proactive values such as participating in intraday markets or exercising energy arbitrage. However, accurate forecasting can also lead to opportunistic values that can be exploited by malicious agents if they are not adequately regulated.@en

Local energy communities require tools to select their most fitting community members, power-sharing strategy and technologies for their goals. This work aims to develop a model and a methodology to optimise local energy communities. We evaluate the presence of a battery energy storage system with different capacities and ownership options. Besides, we test two different sharing strategies like static and variable coefficients. Finally, we characterise local energy communities’ demand by comparing residential and commercial loads and varying the number of consumption points. We apply the method to a case study consisting of a 100 kWp photovoltaic installation in Valencia simulated with an hourly resolution for a whole year. We use real consumption data from households and commercial buildings and the current administrative requirements, obtaining the flows and status of each component within the local energy community at every moment. We assess each alternative's economic performance, autarchy degree, and the amount of avoided greenhouse gasses emissions. Results indicate that a local energy community well optimised can fulfil economic, environmental or self-consumption goals. Results only advise installing a storage to increase the degree of self-consumption. Moreover, we obtain the best financial and environmental results in large communities with a 75% residential consumption.@en

The European Union advocates for legislative support to local energy communities. Measures include the promotion of dynamic energy allocation and discriminatory electricity tariffs such as the recent Spanish framework. However, the impact of these normative changes is not yet evaluated. This paper inquires into the impact of dynamic allocation coefficient and different electricity tariffs on the profitability of local energy communities. To do so, a linear optimisation model is developed and applied to real consumer data in Spain around a variable capacity photovoltaic generation plant. Comparing the economic performance of the static or variable power allocation under the effect of changing electricity tariffs. While both measures are beneficial, the new electricity tariffs result in larger profitability increases than the planned variable coefficients. The combination of measures allows for profitability improvements of up to 25% being complementary measures. However, installations that maximise the potential for electricity generation are still not as profitable due to the low purchase price of surplus energy. While discriminatory electricity price tariffs and variable allocation coefficients are positive measures, further measures are needed for these communities to install generation plants as large as the potential that each case allows.@en