Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid
This master's thesis explores why energy communities (ECs), which are local collectives of citizens, businesses, or public entities that come together to generate, consume, and trade renewable electricity, have not progressed beyond the pilot stage despite their proven technical feasibility. Th...
| Autor: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | tesis de maestría |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/440792 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/440792 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Collectivism Renewable energy sources Electric power distribution Col·lectivisme Energies renovables Energia elèctrica--Distribució Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Desenvolupament sostenible::Energia i sostenibilitat |
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Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the gridChonillo Salazar, Diego AlbertoCollectivismRenewable energy sourcesElectric power distributionCol·lectivismeEnergies renovablesEnergia elèctrica--DistribucióÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Desenvolupament sostenible::Energia i sostenibilitatThis master's thesis explores why energy communities (ECs), which are local collectives of citizens, businesses, or public entities that come together to generate, consume, and trade renewable electricity, have not progressed beyond the pilot stage despite their proven technical feasibility. The main objective is to identify, rank, and explain the external barriers that prevent these communities from scaling up and providing demand response (DR) and other grid-flexibility services in the broader energy market. To address this, a mixed-method research design is applied. First, a systematic review of academic literature and EU policy documents is conducted, complemented by keyword-incontext analysis (using AntConc) to quantify the occurrence of obstacles across the six PESTEL dimensions: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal. Second, four Horizon 2020 pilot projects (BRIGHT, ACCEPT, LIGHTNESS, and FLEXGRID) are analysed to extract quantitative indicators such as peak load reduction, energy bill savings, and aggregator revenues. Finally, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to integrate three evaluative criteria: the overall barrier load, the feasibility of mitigation through demand response, and the level of difficulty encountered in pilot projects. This combination allows for the assignment of weighted priorities to each category of external barriers. Results from the AHP analysis clearly identify legal and regulatory barriers, such as complex licensing processes, market participation restrictions, and regulatory ambiguities, as the most significant constraints, with a global priority weight of 0.393. Social and political barriers follow, highlighting challenges related to community engagement, user acceptance, regulatory instability, and insufficient incentives. Technological and economic barriers are identified as significant yet manageable, while environmental constraints have minimal current impact. The strategic conclusion emphasizes that institutional rather than technical issues represent the primary obstacle preventing the expansion of energy communities beyond pilot-scale deployments. Recommendations include establishing standardized flexibility products, regulatory sandboxes, performance-based tariffs, and incentive-driven financial mechanisms. Additionally, technological standardization, interoperability requirements, and inclusive community engagement strategies are proposed to overcome remaining challenges. Future research is suggested to track the evolution of barriers through dynamic, multi-country AHP modeling, incorporating longitudinal data from Horizon Europe living labs. This comprehensive framework aims to guide policymakers, investors, and communities toward creating a resilient, integrated, and inclusive energy system across EuropeUniversitat Politècnica de CatalunyaCanals Casals, Lluc20252025-07-1120252025-09-03master thesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccNAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesisapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/440792reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/4407922026-05-27T15:37:01Z |
| dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid |
| title |
Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid |
| spellingShingle |
Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid Chonillo Salazar, Diego Alberto Collectivism Renewable energy sources Electric power distribution Col·lectivisme Energies renovables Energia elèctrica--Distribució Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Desenvolupament sostenible::Energia i sostenibilitat |
| title_short |
Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid |
| title_full |
Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid |
| title_fullStr |
Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid |
| title_sort |
Barriers to the expansion of energy communities with proactive interaction with the grid |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Chonillo Salazar, Diego Alberto |
| author |
Chonillo Salazar, Diego Alberto |
| author_facet |
Chonillo Salazar, Diego Alberto |
| author_role |
author |
| dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Canals Casals, Lluc |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Collectivism Renewable energy sources Electric power distribution Col·lectivisme Energies renovables Energia elèctrica--Distribució Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Desenvolupament sostenible::Energia i sostenibilitat |
| topic |
Collectivism Renewable energy sources Electric power distribution Col·lectivisme Energies renovables Energia elèctrica--Distribució Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Desenvolupament humà i sostenible::Desenvolupament sostenible::Energia i sostenibilitat |
| description |
This master's thesis explores why energy communities (ECs), which are local collectives of citizens, businesses, or public entities that come together to generate, consume, and trade renewable electricity, have not progressed beyond the pilot stage despite their proven technical feasibility. The main objective is to identify, rank, and explain the external barriers that prevent these communities from scaling up and providing demand response (DR) and other grid-flexibility services in the broader energy market. To address this, a mixed-method research design is applied. First, a systematic review of academic literature and EU policy documents is conducted, complemented by keyword-incontext analysis (using AntConc) to quantify the occurrence of obstacles across the six PESTEL dimensions: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal. Second, four Horizon 2020 pilot projects (BRIGHT, ACCEPT, LIGHTNESS, and FLEXGRID) are analysed to extract quantitative indicators such as peak load reduction, energy bill savings, and aggregator revenues. Finally, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to integrate three evaluative criteria: the overall barrier load, the feasibility of mitigation through demand response, and the level of difficulty encountered in pilot projects. This combination allows for the assignment of weighted priorities to each category of external barriers. Results from the AHP analysis clearly identify legal and regulatory barriers, such as complex licensing processes, market participation restrictions, and regulatory ambiguities, as the most significant constraints, with a global priority weight of 0.393. Social and political barriers follow, highlighting challenges related to community engagement, user acceptance, regulatory instability, and insufficient incentives. Technological and economic barriers are identified as significant yet manageable, while environmental constraints have minimal current impact. The strategic conclusion emphasizes that institutional rather than technical issues represent the primary obstacle preventing the expansion of energy communities beyond pilot-scale deployments. Recommendations include establishing standardized flexibility products, regulatory sandboxes, performance-based tariffs, and incentive-driven financial mechanisms. Additionally, technological standardization, interoperability requirements, and inclusive community engagement strategies are proposed to overcome remaining challenges. Future research is suggested to track the evolution of barriers through dynamic, multi-country AHP modeling, incorporating longitudinal data from Horizon Europe living labs. This comprehensive framework aims to guide policymakers, investors, and communities toward creating a resilient, integrated, and inclusive energy system across Europe |
| publishDate |
2025 |
| dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2025 2025-07-11 2025 2025-09-03 |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
master thesis http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdcc NA http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43 |
| dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis |
| format |
masterThesis |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
https://hdl.handle.net/2117/440792 |
| url |
https://hdl.handle.net/2117/440792 |
| dc.language.none.fl_str_mv |
Inglés eng |
| language_invalid_str_mv |
Inglés |
| language |
eng |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv |
open access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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open access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
| eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
| dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
| dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya |
| publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya |
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reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
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Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
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UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
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UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
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15.812429 |