Comparative Analysis of Power Distribution Systems with Individual Prosumers Owing Photovoltaic Installations and Solar Energy Communities in Terms of Profitability and Hosting Capacity

Abstract

Future energy markets are foreseen to integrate multiple entities located mainly at the distribution level of the grid so that consumers can participate in energy trading while acting as individual prosumers or by forming energy communities. To ensure the smooth integration of prosumers and satisfy the effective operation of the power distribution systems (PDSs), it is important to fundamentally assess their performance for different grid development scenarios. This paper aims to estimate and compare the hosting capacity (HC) thresholds and profitability for two alternatives: (a) when the PDS experiences rapid growth of scattered individual prosumers with photovoltaic (PV) installations and (b) when prosumers intend to formulate a medium-scale energy community, which is a single source located in one node. Maximization of the profits of decision-makers and maximization of the capacity of the PV generation were set as the two objectives for the optimization tasks. It has been analyzed how the physical topology of the distribution network can be harmonized with the underlying bidirectional power flows for each alternative while satisfying system constraints. A typical distribution test feeder is employed to estimate the energy loss and voltage variations in the PDS, as well as the profitability for energy producers, for various penetration levels of prosumers, in comparison to the base case with no PV generation. The results indicate that improvements in terms of profitability and reduction of energy losses can be achieved in both alternatives, as long as the penetration of PV systems does not reach a certain threshold, which can be chosen by decision-makers and is limited by the HC. Comparing the results of the simulation, EComs demonstrate higher HC vs. individual prosumers, both in terms of technical and economic priorities.

Assessment of energy losses in power distribution systems with individual prosumers and energy communities

“…A practical test system with unbalanced load profile is taken and the three‐phase current injection (TCIM) method, which is a modification of the Newton‐Raphson (NR) method, is chosen for power flow calculation and analysis. This is one of the primary power flow solution methods, which exploits the current injection at each node through rectangular coordinates, providing a faster solution with a smaller number of iterations [3]. The method requires only one guess, and its formulation is rather simple, which eases the process of applying and programming it.…”

“…A summary on the perspectives and progress in prosumer communities and relationships is presented in [3,4]. Given their orientation towards environmentally friendly PDSs, prosumers can help to reduce the cost of energy, increase and maintain the sustainable share of RESs [5].…”

“…(EComs). An ECom is defined as an entity of local prosumers that is involved in energy production, distribution and usage [3], and can provide the local community with environmental, economic and social benefits.…”

“…coal, gas) to renewable energy sources (RESs) [2]. With rapid adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) and advancements in control and communications, small‐scale electricity consumers are becoming prosumers, that is, individuals, institutions, or small businesses that both produce, consume energy and, optionally, store and share energy with other grid users [3, 4]. This means that proactive consumers can participate in a peer‐to‐peer (P2P) energy trading, facilitating energy exchange between each other or within energy communities (EComs).…”

“…This means that proactive consumers can participate in a peer‐to‐peer (P2P) energy trading, facilitating energy exchange between each other or within energy communities (EComs). An ECom is defined as an entity of local prosumers that is involved in energy production, distribution and usage [3], and can provide the local community with environmental, economic and social benefits.…”