Prosumer communities and relationships in smart grids: A literature review, evolution and future directions

Smart grids are robust, self-healing networks that allow bidirectional propagation of energy and information within the utility grid. This introduces a new type of energy user who consumes, produces, stores and shares energy with other grid users. Such a user is called a "prosumer." Prosumers' participation in the smart grid is critical for the sustainability and long-term efficiency of the energy sharing process. Thus, prosumer management has attracted increasing attention among researchers in recent years. This paper systematically examines the literature on prosumer community based smart grid by reviewing relevant literature published from 2009 to 2018 in reputed energy and technology journals. We specifically focus on two dimensions namely prosumer community groups and prosumer relationships. Based on the evaluated literature, we present eight propositions and thoroughly describe several future research directions

Ushering in a New Dawn : Demand-Side Local Flexibility Platform Governance and Design in the Finnish Energy Markets

Energy ecosystems are under a significant transition. Local flexibility marketplaces (LFM) and platforms are argued to have significant potential in contributing to such a transition. The purpose of this study was to answer the following research question: how do market conditions and stakeholders shape emerging LFM platform governance choices? We approached this objective with an exploratory single-case study by conducting ten semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in the Finnish energy ecosystem. The results of the content and pattern analyses revealed the key challenges to LFM implementation such as the current regulatory treatment of flexibility, high costs of gadget installations, and ensuring sufficient liquidity in the market. In addition, we also demonstrated that despite such barriers, the Finnish ecosystem is largely pragmatic about LFMs’ in its midst. All in all, we contributed to the non-technological streams of LFM literature by developing an exhaustive framework with four distinctive dimensions (i.e., ecosystem readiness, value-creation logic, platform architecture and governance, platform competitiveness) for LFM development, which helps academics, practitioners, and policy-makers to understand how novel platforms emerge and develop.© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

On Logistics Management for Prosumer Business Information System Development and Implementation

Managing prosumer businesses is challenging with different types of renewable and non-renewable energy resources. The development and implementation of energy systems pose additional challenges when prosumers pursue sustainable production while simultaneously trying to mitigate gas emissions and energy losses. Issues associated with energy emissions and supply shortfalls must be addressed before developing prosumer business information systems and reaping their benefits. Innovative IS (Information System) solutions are needed to align different energy systems and prosumer coalitions that require cautious implementations. The purpose of the research is to develop IS artefacts, strategizing energy systems, establishing essential logistics requirements for smart-grids to ensure sustainable energy supplies. A conceptual Prosumer Business-based Design Science Information System (PBDSIS) framework is developed, collaborating IS articulations of prosumer business data artefacts in ecologies, where energy production and distribution need crucial logistics support and implementation of IS artefacts. The framework is implemented in prosumer business domain using open-source data