Análisis técnico – económico de comunidades energéticas mediante autoconsumo colectivo en Gipuzkoa, España

Abstract

In the current context, the energy transition plays a fundamental role in promoting not only an energy system – outside the carbon cycle – but also an economic, environmental, and social one. It is here that the idea of energy communities emerges strongly, which focuses on the organization of collective energy actions, generally based on the generation of energy with renewable resources, around open and democratic participation and governance and the provision of benefits for members or the local community. The regulation of this type of initiative is broad and varies according to each country. In Spain, Real Decreto 244/2019, of April 5th, which regulates the administrative, technical, and economic conditions of self-consumption of electrical energy is not a specific regulation for energy communities, but it approaches them from collective self-consumption perspectives. So, how do you know if it is feasible to implement an energy community in the area where you live? The main objective of this work is to evaluate the technical-economic feasibility of implementing an energy community in the province of Gipuzkoa, through the simplified compensation mechanism, through collective self-consumption, according to current Spanish regulations (Real Decreto 244/2019). In this mechanism, the hourly relationship between generation and demand is considered as self-consumption, where if there is a deficit, it is possible to consume energy from the network, and conversely, if surpluses are generated, it is possible to compensate them at the end of the month in the electrical bill. To this end, different real consumption profiles of different buildings were first analyzed. With these, two types of communities were defined according to the type of users that comprise it: public, only with community buildings (for example, a library) and mixed - with public and residential buildings -. On the other hand, the production of electrical energy was estimated from different generation technologies – solar, wind and a hybrid between these two – according to the conditions of global irradiance and wind speed in Gipuzkoa. Then, with this information, six different scenarios were established. For each of these, the annual benefit was estimated, and an economic evaluation was carried out to verify its profitability. With the results obtained, it was verified that the greatest consumption of the different users is during the winter months and that the greatest generation of energy occurs in the summer months, so incorporation of wind energy to complement photovoltaic solar production –increasing the flexibility of the operation – can provide revenues in case this resource is competitive. On the other hand, it was confirmed that minimizing surpluses and increasing consumed energy, for each consumer, maximizes the revenues generated by the community. Finally, it is concluded that the formation of energy communities in Gipuzkoa is economically viable for those that supply electricity from a photovoltaic solar installation, or alternatively, from a hybrid installation based on solar energy. Without a doubt, the incorporation of this type of projects in the world of energy is a success that can support the different international strategies to face global warming and climate change based on the sustainable and participatory development of the energy sector.