Design and Modeling Renewable Energy Communities. A case study in Cagliari

In the last decades, European countries shifted towards decentralized energy generation, which is a crucial step for enhancing the diffusion from centralized power systems to smaller-scale systems. These small-scaled systems include local energy communities (ECs). The renewable energy communities (RECs) have a significant role and potential in this energy shift. Starting from the fact that using renewable energy sources (RES) reduces greenhouse gas emissions and the dependence on fossil fuels, the RECs are effective bodies, in means of scale and management, for the implementation of sustainable urban territories. This work analyzes different EC scenarios, considering energetic and economic perspectives. The energy concern is associated with improving the self-consumption and self-sufficiency indexes, while the economic concern is associated with the received incentive for each designed EC. The analyzed case study is in Cagliari/Italy, a typical condominium of eight apartments with a low energy rating (G). The study also covers the energy efficiency improvement associated with the retrofit intervention which is conducted during the research process. The analysis scale includes both the share of energy between the eight apartments of the condominium and an EC composed of the studied building with neighboring buildings. The objective of this work is to contribute to the research studies and EC applications providing an illustrative model, with numerical data and alternative scenarios, to give detailed analyzes that can be used for the implementation of different sized ECs, and to demonstrate the significant role ECs can play in moving towards decentralized energy generation.