INESC TEC part of pilot-project to improve self-consumption and renewable energy communities

The Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE) has recently acknowledged a pilot-project by INESC TEC, CapWatt and the Imosede Real Estate Investment Fund; the main goal is to test dynamic energy sharing rules within the “Sonae Campus” collective self-consumption.  

Picture the following: there’s a common photovoltaic system installed in the rooftop of the building where you live; the surrounding plots have one or several photovoltaic systems; or that you want to manage and share energy generation surpluses with your neighbours. These are some examples of collective self-consumption or renewable energy communities. However, the operation of this type of initiatives poses several challenges, including the definition of operational rules and protocols for local electricity distribution. 

In this context, ERSE attributed the classification of pilot-project to “Sonae Campus”, within the scope of the self-consumption and renewable energy communities established by the Self-Consumption Regulation. “The objective of the pilot-project is to test, together with E-Redes, CapWatt and ERSE, the dynamic sharing mechanism provided for in Decree-Law No. 15/2022”, explained José Villar, researcher at INESC TEC – stating that the Decree-Law defines the foundations, but that the specific rules of operation must be established by ERSE. “Hence, this initiative focuses on testing this mechanism to support its regulation and operationalisation”, he mentioned. 

According to the researcher, an energy community management platform is being developed, which includes transaction and settlement services to facilitate energy sharing between community members and the corresponding financial compensation. The pilot-project will be installed in a business park, with office, logistics and industry buildings, and car parks. “Renewable energy communities represent a form of organisation and local aggregation that provides management and decision-making capability and power to consumers, as they start to own and supply energy resources, while playing an active role in the energy sector”, he concluded. 

The “Sonae Campus” in now part of the pilot-project developed by E-Redes to test the new rules for energy sharing in self-consumption, based on hierarchical algorithms and dynamic energy sharing, complementary to those currently defined in the Self-Consumption Regulation.