Renewable Energy Communities Tapping into Flexible Optimal Operation of Thermostatic Loads

Renewable energy communities represent a key framework to enable a cost-effective integration of larger shares of renewable energy sources. The techno-economic benefits for local communities largely refer to the relevant European Union regulatory framework and its transposition at national level. This paper focuses on the Italian context, where the transposition task has been recently completed. In particular, it quantifies the effectiveness of the flexible optimal operation of aggregate thermostatic loads (e.g. domestic refrigerators) to the self-consumption of the community. Results indicate that the economic benefits provided by flexible devices highlight depend on the composition of the community (e.g. number of members and rated capacity of renewable units).