Business Model Selection for Community Energy Storage: A Multi Criteria Decision Making Approach

Abstract

This paper explores business models for community energy storage (CES) and examines their potential and feasibility at the local level. By leveraging Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approaches and real-world case studies in Europe and India, it presents insights into CES deployment opportunities, challenges, and best practices. Different business models, including community energy cooperatives, utility–community partnerships, demand response, energy services, and market mechanisms, are analyzed. The proposed method combines the MCDM method PROMETHEE II with the fuzzy set theory to obtain a complete CES business model ranking, addressing project uncertainties. The analysis emphasizes CES’s role in balancing local renewable energy supply and demand, facilitating energy sharing, and achieving energy independence. Findings prioritize models like Community Cooperative, Energy Arbitrage, and Energy Arbitrage Peak Shaving for CES with renewables. Environmental benefits include reduced diesel use and greenhouse gas emissions. Efficient cooperatives are advocated to recover costs and enable competitive energy prices. The paper highlights the need for novel value propositions to boost the energy transition in local communities. This research contributes to the discourse on CES business models, fostering knowledge exchange and promoting effective strategies for sustainable energy systems.

A Review of the Energy Storage Systems of Non-Interconnected European Islands

“…Although the future of ESSs in non-interconnected islands seems promising, there are certain challenges that should be taken into consideration. A major challenge is the right selection of the ESS technology to be implemented [106]. For example, there may be cases where the high demand of an island would be better served with a hydro-pumped storage system but the low altitude and other geographical limitations render the construction of such a system non-effective.…”