Peer-to-peer electricity trading: A review of the legal context

Abstract

The peer-to-peer (P2P) trading of electricity is a recently developed type of transaction in the electricity system. In a P2P electricity trade, two equal market participants, in most cases prosumers, conclude a contract for the trade of electricity. This article provides a review of the legal context of P2P electricity trading, with a focus on European energy law. Furthermore, the article discusses the relation of P2P electricity trading to the phenomenon of the collaborative economy and to parallel technological developments taking place in the electricity system. We conclude that while the current state of European Union energy law might in principle allow P2P electricity trading, the lack of specific provisions is likely to cause issues in practice.

Automated Negotiation for Peer-to-Peer Electricity Trading in Local Energy Markets

“…Indeed, automated negotiations at the peer-to-peer level is mostly applicable either in developing countries, especially where the grid is unreliable, or within a community in countries with a strong grid, as peers do not currently have the required power to enter the wholesale market [56]. At a community level, collective self-consumption and the emergence of the sharing economy for smart grids [57][58][59] provides a way for citizens to promote investment in DER while reducing their electricity bill [60], especially in Europe where P2P trading is likely to be supported by European policies [59]. Hence, automated negotiations as presented in this paper would provide a replicable framework that would allow citizen communities to maximize the quantity of self-consumed renewable energy at a low cost.…”

Aggregators today and tomorrow: from intermediaries to local orchestrators?

“…The question of what amounts to commercial activity is more difficult to answer and the only aspect that is clear is that P2P trade is assumed to be conducted by two nonprofessional private consumers. Yet, it does not, and should not, exclude some sort of profit-making (Van Soest, 2018). Remember that not only households but also commercial customers may engage in P2P trade.…”

Peer‐to‐peer local electricity market platform pricing strategies for prosumers

“…However, the challenge is retailers/suppliers are professional entities, whereas prosumers are a non‐professional entity. A transaction can only be qualified as C2C or P2P when it is undertaken by two non‐professional entities [5].…”

“…These market models differ by the way they realise communication architecture, market, grid network and energy transfer. Among these, the P2P market model provides prosumer‐centric benefits by facilitating direct participation/transactions among non‐professional prosumers and providing them individual choices, self‐management and platform for neighbourhood interactions [1, 4, 5].…”

“…P2P platforms can be designed based on (i) sharing economy, (ii) game theory or (iii) auction theory [5–7]. P2P platforms using sharing economy and online matching for off‐grid prosumers are in the nascent stage of research and have been investigated through pilot projects like Piclo in the UK and Vandebron in the Netherlands [8, 9].…”