The Impact of Media on Consumer Behaviour in the Energy Sector

Tahle bakalářská práce se zabývá rozborem aspektů, které brání, či naopak umožňují integraci principů sociálních sítí do systému smart meteringu, jakožto i rozbor jejich potenciálu a možnosti provedení. Přínosy inteligentních sítí pro spotřebitele jsou dnes žhavým tématem. V této práci je prezentován průzkum zaměřený na tyto aspekty. Analýza výsledků průzkumu a klíčových sdělení identifikuje názory obyvatelstva na tohle téma a navrhuje možné směry kterými se mohou vydat budoucí aplikace a služby pro spotřebitele žijící v inteligentních městech.This bachelor thesis deals with the analysis of the aspects that prevent or allow the integration of the principles of social networks into the system of smart meters as well as the study of their potential and possibilities of implementation. The issue of how the future smart grid consumer will benefit from the future smart city grid services are hot topics. Here, a survey is presented that focuses on these aspects. An analysis of the survey results and key messages identifies view of the people on the topic and proposes directions that may be followed when designing applications and services of residential smart city consumers.

Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading in the Real World: Market Design and Evaluation of the User Value Proposition

Electricity markets are experiencing a shift to a more decentralized structure with small distributed renewable generation sources like residential photovoltaic systems. Simultaneously, information systems have driven the development of a “sharing economy” also in the electricity sector and can enable previously passive consumers to directly trade solar electricity in local communities. However, it is unclear how such peer-to-peer (P2P) markets should be designed to create value for the user. In a framed field experiment, we design and implement Switzerland’s first real-world P2P electricity market in a local community. We examine its value proposition for the users and elicit user preferences by enabling the participants to directly influence buy and sell prices for local solar energy. The collected empirical evidence suggests that the P2P exchange is beneficial for users and provides incentives for generation of renewable energy. The results create valuable insights for the design and diffusion of future energy markets

Impact of local energy markets integration in power systems layer: A comprehensive review

In recent years extensive research has been conducted on the development of different models that enable energy trading between prosumers and consumers due to expected high integration of distributed energy resources. Some of the most researched mechanisms include Peer-to-Peer energy trading, Community Self-Consumption and Transactive Energy Models. To ensure the stable and reliable delivery of electricity as such markets and models grow, this paper aims to understand the impact of these models on grid infrastructure, including impacts on the control, operation, and planning of power systems, interaction between multiple market models and impact on transmission network. Here, we present a comprehensive review of existing research on impact of Local Energy Market integration in power systems layer. We detect and classify most common issues and benefits that the power grid can expect from integrating these models. We also present a detailed overview of methods that are used to integrate physical network constraints into the market mechanisms, their advantages, drawbacks, and scaling potential. In addition, we present different methods to calculate and allocate network tariffs and power losses. We find that financial energy transactions do not directly reflect the physical energy flows imposed by the constraints of the installed electrical infrastructure. In the end, we identify a number of different challenges and detect research gaps that need to be addressed in order to integrate Local Energy Market models into existing infrastructure

Interest in Solar Photovoltaic (PV) and Peer-To-Peer Energy Trading for Back-Up Electricity in Nigerian Residential Housing Estates

Solar energy presents a highly viable alternative for backup electricity provision in urban Nigeria, as the technology is now mature. Due to widespread electricity black-outs, petrol and diesel generators are widely used, causing local air and noise pollu-tion and contributing to climate change. However, the main clean alternative, solar, has little foothold in the Nigerian energy market. The thesis explores whether households value the “clean power” benefit of the widespread adoption of solar en-ergy for backup electricity in residential estates. It employs a mixed-method ap-proach using semi-structured interviews, a survey, and a discrete choice experiment with 649 respondents in Ibadan, a Nigerian city, to provide insights into preferences for clean and quiet solar PV backup electricity on a residential estate as well as en-ergy trading preferences. Applying quantitative and qualitative methods, the study finds that consumers are interested in dwelling in estates that only permit cleaner backup alternatives, including solar and inverters, compared with the status quo op-tion of staying in estates with petrol or diesel generators. The study also finds that consumers are interested in peer-to-peer energy trading, with differences in prefer-ences for selling and buying excess electricity from neighbours. The thesis also finds that autarky aspirations and financial benefits are key factors that influence partici-pation in energy trading. The findings demonstrate that whilst the electricity supply remains unreliable, there is an opportunity for solar PV to claim a much larger share of the backup electricity market. Furthermore, policymakers and clean energy pro-viders keen to increase the uptake of residential solar energy should highlight the clean and quiet benefits of solar energy for the residents themselves. This research also demonstrates an opportunity to develop and market clean, quiet estates that appeal to people concerned about the health impacts of generator use

Self-Forecasting Energy Load Stakeholders for Smart Grids

The unpredictability of energy loads is responsible for a significant portion of efficiency loss in power grids. In order to reduce load uncertainties, emerging Smart Grid business models call for the active participation of traditionally passive stakeholders. The contribution of this work enables self-forecasting energy load stakeholders whose deterministic load behaviour make them reliable resources that can greatly benefit themselves and other Smart Grid stakeholders

Innovation Dynamics of Socio-Technical Alignment in Community Energy Storage:The Cases of DrTen and Ecovat

With energy transition gaining momentum, energy storage technologies are increasingly spotlighted as they can effectively handle mismatches in supply and demand. The decreasing cost of distributed energy generation technologies and energy storage technologies as well as increasing demand for local flexibility is opening up new possibilities for the deployment of energy storage technologies in local energy communities. In this context, community energy storage has potential to better integrate energy supply and demand at the local level and can contribute towards accommodating the needs and expectations of citizens and local communities as well as future ecological needs. However, there are techno-economical and socio-institutional challenges of integrating energy storage technologies in the largely centralized present energy system, which demand socio-technical innovation. To gain insight into these challenges, this article studies the technical, demand and political articulations of new innovative local energy storage technologies based on an embedded case study approach. The innovation dynamics of two local energy storage innovations, the seasalt battery of DrTen® and the seasonal thermal storage Ecovat®, are analysed. We adopt a co-shaping perspective for understanding innovation dynamics as a result of the socio-institutional dynamics of alignment of various actors, their articulations and the evolving network interactions. Community energy storage necessitates thus not only technical innovation but, simultaneously, social innovation for its successful adoption. We will assess these dynamics also from the responsible innovation framework that articulates various forms of social, environmental and public values. The socio-technical alignment of various actors, human as well as material, is central in building new socio-technical configurations in which the new storage technology, the community and embedded values are being developed

Prosumer collectives: a review

he authors would like to acknowledge the Smart Grid Forum for funding this research. They also acknowledge the aligned GREEN Grid research project, funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE), with co-funding from Transpower and the Electricity Engineers’ Association. We also acknowledge our reviewers, John Hancock and Gerry Carrington.The widespread growth globally of micro-generation (particularly PV) means that consumers are interacting with electricity systems in new ways, becoming ‘energy prosumers’ – both producing and consuming energy. We define an energy prosumer as “a consumer of energy who also produces energy to provide for their needs, and who in the instance of their production exceeding their requirements, will sell, store or trade the surplus energy”. Growing prosumerism has the potential to create challenges for grid management, particularly if local generation becomes concentrated within a part of a lines network, which can particularly occur with the establishment of prosumer collectives. For this report we reviewed international and NZ articles and reports on this phenomenon, to understanding how and why consumers were adopting microgeneration, and ways in which prosumer collectives are emerging. In considering how people become prosumers, we found it useful to differentiate between ‘active prosumers’ whose decision to adopt microgeneration is self-directed and purposeful, and ‘passive prosumers’ whose entry is the result of external influences or the by-product of other decisions. The shift to becoming a prosumer creates many opportunities for people to become more actively engaged with the role of energy in their lives, which opens the door for collective engagement. We reviewed different forms of prosumer collectives in the UK, North America, Europe and Australasia. From these we identified that different models of prosumer collectives are emerging depending on whether the collective was initiated by a community or third party, and whether the microgeneration facility is on a focal site (e.g. a wind turbine cluster) or multiple sites (e.g. PV on many houses in a community). A further influence is the emergence of new business models and smart technologies that enable prosumers to manage energy production and consumption on a personal and collective level. Some businesses now offer peer-to-peer platforms that enable power-sharing within a microgrid, as well as supporting spatially dispersed collective engagement. For example, prosumers who have surplus power can sell or exchange it directly with others. We identified and named five models of collective prosumerism: multi-site community initiatives; focal-site community initiatives; multi-site third-party initiatives; focal-site third-party initiatives; and dispersed-site third-party initiatives. The common theme is that multiple non-traditional players are consciously engaging with each other in generating and sharing energy and/or the proceeds of energy generation. We identify a range of drivers, barriers and enablers to collective prosumerism. The decreasing cost of microgeneration and storage is a significant driver, along with aspirations for greater independence, control, sustainability and community cohesion. Both community and third-party developments are largely initiated by organisations that have not traditionally been part of the electricity industry. If the industry ignores or attempts to suppress this emerging interest by consumers in collective prosumerism, it may find itself becoming increasingly irrelevant in the lives of electricity users

Impact of peer-to-peer trading and flexibility on local energy systems

To meet the 2050 net zero emission targets, energy systems around the globe are being revisited to achieve multi-vector decarbonisation in terms of electricity, transport, heating and cooling. As energy systems become more decentralised and digitised, local energy systems will have greater potential to self-sustain and hence, decrease reliance on fossil-fuelled central generation. While the uptake of electric vehicles, heat pumps, solar and battery systems offer a solution, the increase in electricity demand poses challenges in terms of higher peak demand, imbalance and overloading. Additionally, the current energy market structure prevents these assets in the distribution network from reaching their true techno-economic potential in flexibility services and energy trading. Peer-to-peer energy trading and community-level control algorithms achieve better matching of local demand and supply through the use of transactive energy markets, load shifting and peak shaving techniques. Existing research addresses the challenges of local energy markets and others investigate the effect of increased distributed assets on the network. However, the combined techno-economic effect requires the co-simulation of both market and network levels, coupled with simultaneous system balance, cost and carbon intensity considerations. Using bottom-up coordination and user-centric optimisation, this project investigated the potential of network-aware peer-to-peer trading and community-level control to increase self-sufficiency and self-consumption in energy communities. The techno-economic effects of these strategies are modelled while maintaining user comfort levels and healthy operation of the network and assets. The proposed strategies are evaluated according to their economic benefit, environmental impact and network stress. A case study in Scotland was employed to demonstrate the benefits of peer-to-peer trading and community self-consumption using future projections of demand, generation and storage. Additionally, the concept of energy smart contracts, embedded in blockchains, are proposed and demonstrated to overcome the major challenges of monitoring and contracting. The results indicate benefits for various energy systems stakeholders. Distribution system end-users benefit from lower energy costs while system operators obtain better visibility of the local-level flexibility along with the associated technical challenges in terms of losses, imbalance and loading. From a commercial perspective, community energy companies may utilise this study to inform investment decisions regarding storage, distributed generation and transactive market solutions. Additionally, the insights about the energy smart contracts allow blockchain and relevant technology sectors to recognise the opportunities and challenges of smart contracts and distributed ledger technologies that are specific to the energy sector. On the broader scale, energy system operators, regulators and high-level decision-makers can compare the simulated impact of community-led energy transition on the net zero goals with large-scale top-down initiatives