Business Models for Energy Community in the Aggregator Perspective: State of the Art and Research Gaps

Abstract

Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) are spreading under the pressure of climate change mitigation plans and the framework, recognized as the most suitable to exploit DER diffusion, is the Energy Community (EC). Understanding the role of energy companies, especially Aggregators, in this context, is still an open topic, as it is not clear how they can support members in the aggregation process and how they create value through their business. The aim of the study is therefore to revise whatever is currently present in the research agenda and consequently a systematic literature review has been carried out. The contribution of this work consists of illustrating the main features of Aggregators, pointing out how they implement their strategies in the energy markets, with which services they capture value, who their partners and customers are, what the financial aspects are of their activities with respect to the size of the aggregated clusters, and, in conclusion, which are the main business model structures currently deployed. Then, considerations are made concerning EC context, identifying the areas where an Aggregator could usefully support communities’ establishment and management, solving well-known hindrances, and what gaps future research should fill.

Energy Communities and Electric Mobility as a Win–Win Solution in Built Environment

“…Some limitations in the literature on the role of aggregators in energy communities were identified, mainly in researching incentives and measures to encourage the creation of aggregations [33]. The authors have also identified the need for more research regarding the sizing of energy communities.…”

Unlocking the Value of Aggregated Demand Response: A Survey of European Electricity Markets

“…The literature on DR and aggregator participation in electricity markets has shown that DR can be an effective tool for balancing supply and demand on the grid and that aggregators can play an important role in providing flexibility and balancing services [22][23][24][25][26]. Aggregators' business models have been thoroughly researched [27][28][29][30][31][32]. However, there are still gaps in our understanding of the opportunities and challenges for aggregators in different European markets, and how these markets are behaving in terms of prices [33][34][35].…”