Skip to main content
European Commission logo
Energy Poverty Advisory Hub
  • General publications

Sharing Is Caring: Exploring Distributed Solar Photovoltaics and Local Electricity Consumption through a Renewable Energy Community

Details

Publication date
27 March 2024
EPAH Type of publication
Scientific paper

Description

Renewable Energy Communities (REC) can play a crucial role in enhancing citizen participation in the energy transition. Current European Union legislation enshrines energy communities and mandates Member States to encourage these organizations, promoting adequate conditions for their establishment. Nevertheless, uptake has been slow, and more research is needed to optimize the associated energy sharing. Using a Portuguese case study (REC Telheiras, Lisbon), this research aims to match local generation through four photovoltaic systems (totalizing 156.5 kWp of installed capacity) with household electricity consumption while cross evaluating the Portuguese legislation for energy sharing. The results show that, while maximizing self-consumption for the same values of generation and consumption, the number of participants is considerably lower for Scenario A (SCI = 100% is achieved with at least 491 residential members in Scenario A and 583 in Scenario B).

Files

Sharing Is Caring: Exploring Distributed Solar Photovoltaics and Local Electricity Consumption through a Renewable Energy Community