Promoting local renewable energy production with energy communities and serious games
Nykyri, Mikko (2024-01-26)
Väitöskirja
Nykyri, Mikko
26.01.2024
Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT
Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis
School of Energy Systems
School of Energy Systems, Sähkötekniikka
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In reference to IEEE copyrighted material which is used with permission in this thesis, the IEEE does not endorse any of Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. If interested in reprinting/republishing IEEE copyrighted material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution, please go to http://www.ieee.org/publications_ standards/publications/rights/rights_link.html to learn how to obtain a License from RightsLink.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-412-052-4
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-412-052-4
Tiivistelmä
Local, small-scale energy production with renewable energy like solar energy is becoming more and more commonplace as people seek methods to reduce their reliance on grid energy. Besides individual households investing in a solar installation, co-owned installations are also raising interest. They can provide locally produced affordable energy for multiple households while allowing the initial investment to be shared, which reduces the financial burden.
However, implementing shared installations imposes a unique set of problems to be solved in order to use them efficiently. The current energy distribution infrastructure may cause a situation where it is not economically viable to provide the produced energy directly for the installation owners but only to power any common property they own. Solutions for this exist, but they are not ideal as in many cases they require the implementation of an energy aggregator to govern this energy allocation, which may lead the installation owners to lose their place in the open retail electricity market. In some solutions, the allocation is based on active participation in, e.g., energy auctioning, which can be considered troublesome since many laypeople find concepts regarding energy and electricity difficult to grasp.
This dissertation presents a solution for energy allocation that is based on formation of an energy community and utilization of a blockchain-based balance settlement ledger. The blockchain allows for a secure and immutable data storage system that can be used to store the energy consumption and production data of the energy community. A blockchain is also able to automatically perform the energy allocation by using smart contracts. This makes it possible to remove the energy aggregator altogether, resulting in the installation owners maintaining their position in the open retail electricity market.
Although the blockchain-based balance settlement and energy allocation are effortless for residents to take part in, people need to understand how the electrical system works and what affects their energy consumption, allocated amount of energy, and the cost of the energy used. For this, serious gaming is proposed as a means to teach people how the system works. With a serious game, the players can experiment on how their actions change the outcome of the system, which can be a viable way to promote demand response. For this purpose, a prototype serious game is developed and its design process is discussed.
To promote the rollout of local renewable production, the threshold of making the decision to invest in the system has to be minimized. This requires solutions that can be implemented without major infrastructural changes in the distribution system. The arrangements should be as easy to understand as possible to make them appealing to the people.
However, implementing shared installations imposes a unique set of problems to be solved in order to use them efficiently. The current energy distribution infrastructure may cause a situation where it is not economically viable to provide the produced energy directly for the installation owners but only to power any common property they own. Solutions for this exist, but they are not ideal as in many cases they require the implementation of an energy aggregator to govern this energy allocation, which may lead the installation owners to lose their place in the open retail electricity market. In some solutions, the allocation is based on active participation in, e.g., energy auctioning, which can be considered troublesome since many laypeople find concepts regarding energy and electricity difficult to grasp.
This dissertation presents a solution for energy allocation that is based on formation of an energy community and utilization of a blockchain-based balance settlement ledger. The blockchain allows for a secure and immutable data storage system that can be used to store the energy consumption and production data of the energy community. A blockchain is also able to automatically perform the energy allocation by using smart contracts. This makes it possible to remove the energy aggregator altogether, resulting in the installation owners maintaining their position in the open retail electricity market.
Although the blockchain-based balance settlement and energy allocation are effortless for residents to take part in, people need to understand how the electrical system works and what affects their energy consumption, allocated amount of energy, and the cost of the energy used. For this, serious gaming is proposed as a means to teach people how the system works. With a serious game, the players can experiment on how their actions change the outcome of the system, which can be a viable way to promote demand response. For this purpose, a prototype serious game is developed and its design process is discussed.
To promote the rollout of local renewable production, the threshold of making the decision to invest in the system has to be minimized. This requires solutions that can be implemented without major infrastructural changes in the distribution system. The arrangements should be as easy to understand as possible to make them appealing to the people.
Kokoelmat
- Väitöskirjat [1039]