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The Future of Smart Local Energy System
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The Future of Smart Local Energy System

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "C: Energy Economics and Policy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2022) | Viewed by 19663

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Malcolm McCulloch

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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Interests: energy; energy systems; renewable generation; energy storage; distributed power generation; power grids; solar power stations; power markets; sustainable energy technologies
Dr. Rebecca Ford

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Guest Editor
School of Government & Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Interests: energy transitions; integrating renewable energy; smart grid technologies; emerging energy related technologies; energy efficiency

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Countries around the world are embarking on energy transitions to decarbonise their economies, and decentralised solutions are becoming an increasingly prevalent part of the landscape. Some of the key enabling technologies underlying this transition include smaller scale renewables (such as solar, wind, micro hydro), digital infrastructure, and artificial intelligence, which are evolving at a rapid pace of change and opening up opportunities for new business models and market opportunities, new forms of user and citizen engagement, new types of data and autonomous management practices, and new challenges for policy, regulation, and governance.

These emerging and evolving smart local energy systems are anticipated to deliver a range of benefits beyond business and the usual, such as supporting net-zero targets, increasing energy affordability, and creating prosperous and resilient communities. But what future smart local energy systems will look like, the ways in which they will deliver benefits, and the potential “winners” and “losers” in the energy transition are all unclear.

This Special Issue seeks original, scholarly contributions that seek to explore novel approaches to understanding energy system transitions through a “smart” and “local” lens. These contributions, in the context of smart local energy systems, can be empirical, theoretical, or methodological in nature, or develop novel methods and approaches that explore one or more of:

  • Technology;
  • Policy and regulation;
  • Markets;
  • Business models;
  • Investment strategies;
  • End users;
  • Sociocultural aspects of behaviour and lifestyle.

Approaches that prioritise interdisciplinary and/or integrative research traditions will be particularly welcome.

Prof. Dr. Malcolm McCulloch
Dr. Rebecca Ford
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • smart local energy systems
  • energy transitions
  • emerging energy related technologies
  • energy efficiency

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1088 KiB  
Article
Value for Money: Local Authority Action on Clean Energy for Net Zero
by Katherine Sugar and Janette Webb
Energies 2022, 15(12), 4359; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15124359 - 15 Jun 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1970
Abstract
Local authorities are well placed to realise co-benefits of integrated local energy systems; however, in the UK they have no statutory energy mandate. Planning and developing clean energy are discretionary, and persistent budget reductions, combined with the lack of strategic direction from the [...] Read more.
Local authorities are well placed to realise co-benefits of integrated local energy systems; however, in the UK they have no statutory energy mandate. Planning and developing clean energy are discretionary, and persistent budget reductions, combined with the lack of strategic direction from the UK government for more localised energy provision, limit local capacity, expertise and resources. Nevertheless, some local authorities have led energy initiatives but have been unable to stimulate investment at the pace and scale required to align with net zero greenhouse gas targets. Using evidence from such initiatives, this paper discusses the institutional changes needed to enable local authorities to act. It examines existing climate and local energy plans, and their integral socio-economic value. Using this evidence, investment opportunities from locally led net zero programmes are identified. EU technical assistance funds provided a particularly successful route to local energy developments: based on value of investment secured against initial funding, it is estimated that GBP 1 million technical assistance funding to every local authority would lead to GBP 15 billion investment in local energy. Other potential funding innovations are assessed and the paper concludes with recommendations for policy and resource measures needed to convert local ambition into clean energy and energy saving investment at scale. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Smart Local Energy System)
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26 pages, 1369 KiB  
Article
Re-Designing GB’s Electricity Market Design: A Conceptual Framework Which Recognises the Value of Distributed Energy Resources
by Thomas Pownall, Iain Soutar and Catherine Mitchell
Energies 2021, 14(4), 1124; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14041124 - 20 Feb 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5082
Abstract
The design of electricity markets determines the technologies, services and modes of operation that can access value, consequently shaping current and future electricity landscapes. This paper highlights that the efficacy of Great Britain’s electricity market design in facilitating net zero is inadequate and [...] Read more.
The design of electricity markets determines the technologies, services and modes of operation that can access value, consequently shaping current and future electricity landscapes. This paper highlights that the efficacy of Great Britain’s electricity market design in facilitating net zero is inadequate and must be reconfigured. The rules of the current electricity market design are remnants of an electricity sector dominated by large-scale, centralised, fossil fuel technologies. Therefore, routes to market for the provision of necessary services to support net zero, not least flexibility, are largely inaccessible for distributed energy resources and, despite their benefits to the system, are thus undervalued. Based upon a review and consolidation of 30 proposed electricity market designs from liberalised electricity sectors, this paper proposes a new electricity market design for Great Britain. This design is presented alongside a new institutional framework to aid in the efficient operation of the market. Specifically, this paper proposes a new local balancing and coordinating market located at each grid supply point (the transmission and distribution interface). This is realised through the implementation of a distributed locational marginal pricing structure which is governed by the evolution of the current distributed network operator, known as the distributed service provider (DSP). The DSP also operates a local balancing and ancillary market for their geographical area. The wholesale market is reconfigured to coordinate with these new local markets and to harmonise the actors across the distribution and transmission network. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Smart Local Energy System)
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26 pages, 3292 KiB  
Article
Energy Internet, the Future Electricity System: Overview, Concept, Model Structure, and Mechanism
by Akhil Joseph and Patil Balachandra
Energies 2020, 13(16), 4242; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en13164242 - 17 Aug 2020
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 5122
Abstract
Energy Internet, a futuristic evolution of electricity system, is conceptualized as an energy sharing network. Its features, such as plug-and-play mechanism, real-time bidirectional flow of energy, information, and money can lead to significant benefits and innovation in electricity production and utilization. Energy Internet [...] Read more.
Energy Internet, a futuristic evolution of electricity system, is conceptualized as an energy sharing network. Its features, such as plug-and-play mechanism, real-time bidirectional flow of energy, information, and money can lead to significant benefits and innovation in electricity production and utilization. Energy Internet integrates small-scale renewable energy systems, electric loads, storage devices, and electric vehicles for effective transaction of power backed by emerging technologies such as Internet of Things, vehicle-to-grid, and blockchain. At present, there is no scaled-up working model of Energy Internet, and literature is scarce, which makes the research in this domain significant, novel, and timely. Given this, an attempt is made to develop the conceptual model of an Energy Internet, elaborate its structure and components, and discuss its operational principles. First, a comprehensive overview of Energy Internet is presented along with its aptness as a future evolution of electricity system. Second, concepts, architectures, and features that underpin Energy Internet are outlined. Third, concept of ‘Energy Intranet’ is introduced to denote the scaled-down version of Energy Internet, which embodies energy prosumers and local energy markets to form a local energy cluster. Finally, discussion is presented on the network structure of Energy Internet, relevance of emerging technologies and innovative operational mechanisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Smart Local Energy System)
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Review

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29 pages, 2202 KiB  
Review
Social and Economic Value in Emerging Decentralized Energy Business Models: A Critical Review
by Sophie Adams, Donal Brown, Juan Pablo Cárdenas Álvarez, Ruzanna Chitchyan, Michael J. Fell, Ulf J. J. Hahnel, Kristina Hojckova, Charlotte Johnson, Lurian Klein, Mehdi Montakhabi, Kelvin Say, Abhigyan Singh and Nicole Watson
Energies 2021, 14(23), 7864; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en14237864 - 24 Nov 2021
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6057
Abstract
In recent years, numerous studies have explored the opportunities and challenges for emerging decentralized energy systems and business models. However, few studies have focussed specifically on the economic and social value associated with three emerging models: peer-to-peer energy trading (P2P), community self-consumption (CSC) [...] Read more.
In recent years, numerous studies have explored the opportunities and challenges for emerging decentralized energy systems and business models. However, few studies have focussed specifically on the economic and social value associated with three emerging models: peer-to-peer energy trading (P2P), community self-consumption (CSC) and transactive energy (TE). This article presents the findings of a systematic literature review to address this gap. The paper makes two main contributions to the literature. Firstly, it offers a synthesis of research on the social and economic value of P2P, CSC and TE systems, concluding that there is evidence for a variety of sources of social value (including energy independence, local benefits, social relationships, environmental responsibility and participation and purpose) and economic value (including via self-consumption of renewable electricity, reduced electricity import costs, and improved electricity export prices). Secondly, it identifies factors and conditions necessary for the success of these models, which include willingness to participate, participant engagement with technology, and project engagement of households and communities, among other factors. Finally, it discusses conflicts and trade-offs in the value propositions of the models, how the three models differ from one another in terms of the value they aim to deliver and some of the open challenges that require further attention by researchers and practitioners. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Smart Local Energy System)
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