Laura Zabala, representing R2M Spain, presented a collaborative paper at the 4th IBPSA-Scotland uSIM Conference on November 25, 2024, and was awarded the Best Paper Award in the Theme Simulation category.
The paper, co-authored by Laura Zabala, Lucas Porto, Jesus Febres, and Raymond Sterling, is titled “Optimizing Energy Communities Design and Sizing for Battery Operation and Energy Trading.” It offers a comprehensive solution to optimize the design and operation of energy communities.
Highlights of the Paper
The study tackles a pressing challenge in energy communities: maximizing renewable energy utilization while adhering to legislative constraints. To address this, the research presents two integrated tools:
Energy Trading Optimization Tool – This tool calculates optimal energy sharing coefficients, ensuring efficient distribution of renewable energy among community members.
Battery Sizing Tool – This optimizes both the size and operation of battery systems within energy communities.
The tools were applied to a real-world case study of the La Balma Energy Community in Spain, which serves as a pilot site for the DE-RISK project.
Key Findings
- The results demonstrated that without a battery system, more than half of the annual photovoltaic (PV) production remains unused, even with optimal energy sharing coefficients.
- Introducing a battery significantly improved the renewable utilization factor, increasing it from 42% to 68.66%.
- The study also included an economic analysis, evaluating the return on investment for a new battery system, providing practical insights for decision-makers in energy communities.
