Optimal peer‐to‐peer energy sharing between grid‐connected prosumers with different demand profiles and renewable energy sources

Abstract

A model is developed to optimise power sharing between two grid-connected prosumers that incorporates photovoltaic and wind energy conversion systems operating in a peerto-peer (P2P) energy-sharing arrangement. The city of Durban, South Africa, where wind and solar resources are abundant, is selected as a case study to analyse power flows between selected prosumers. The model optimally manages power flows among micro renewables-based energy generators while minimising the total cost of energy purchased from the power utility under a time-variable pricing structure. To evaluate the economic feasibility of the suggested peer-to-peer energy-sharing arrangement, a lifecycle cost analysis is conducted to determine when the proposed system will break even, in terms of money spent less achievable salvage value, using the suggested prosumers instead of providing power exclusively from the grid to satisfy load demands. The analysis predicts that the breakeven point will occur after 4.3 years at $13,500, with a projected saving at the end of the 20-year lifecycle of approximately $60,536.82, or 47.42%. Furthermore, the 'true' payback period method is used to assess the economic behaviour of the proposed system with P2P energy-sharing capabilities and indicates that the total investment cost would be recovered in 8.76 years. These results show that the optimally controlled peerto-peer energy-sharing scheme is economically feasible in the South African context and may be applied in any global location with similar operating conditions. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Review of energy sharing: Business models, mechanisms, and prospects

“…Internet of things (IoT) that connects physical objects to the Internet to generate, collect, share, and utilise information can help fulfil the above requirements. For example, blockchain technology with an immutable ledger can protect privacy and provide real-time updates of energy transaction data [64,130]. Through extensive analyses of metered data, we can characterise the features of market participants and help diminish information asymmetry.…”

Optimal Solution of Peer-to-Peer and Peer-to-Grid Trading Strategy Sharing between Prosumers with Grid-Connected Photovoltaic/Wind Turbine/Battery Storage Systems

“…Electricity alone plays an important role in GHG emissions, with about 40% the CO 2 emissions [5]. These renewable energy sources are known to be environmentally friendly since the greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted when using them are relatively very low compared to the GHG emitted from nonrenewable energy sources [6,7]. However, electricity generation from renewable energy sources is faced with the problem of their intermittent or fluctuating nature since they all depend on weather conditions, thus the best way to exploit these sources is by merging them to create a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES).…”

“…The P2P energy-sharing strategy is a very new concept which is still at the stage of feasibility studies in developing countries like South Africa but has been known as a major development in developed countries where it is already possible to have P2P energy-sharing platforms [6,9]. Some of these platforms include LichtBlick Swarm Energy (Germany) [6,9,12]; Smart Watts (Germany) [13]; The SonnenCommunity (Germany) [14]; PeerEnergyCloud (Germany) [15] Piclo project (United Kingdom) [16]; Yeloha and Mosaic (United States of America) [17]; Vandebron (Netherlands) [15]. All these cited works are, however, focused on big hybrid energy systems, and the P2P energy sharing is achieved by the use of the grid network [6].…”

“…Some of these platforms include LichtBlick Swarm Energy (Germany) [6,9,12]; Smart Watts (Germany) [13]; The SonnenCommunity (Germany) [14]; PeerEnergyCloud (Germany) [15] Piclo project (United Kingdom) [16]; Yeloha and Mosaic (United States of America) [17]; Vandebron (Netherlands) [15]. All these cited works are, however, focused on big hybrid energy systems, and the P2P energy sharing is achieved by the use of the grid network [6].…”

“…Results showed an achievement of total cost reduction in a day of 62.71% in summer and 68.99% in winter in the residential sector [9]; 81.31% in summer and 31.69% in winter in the commercial sector. Kusakana also proposed an optimal energy exchange between two prosumers connected to grid whose energy conversion systems consist of photovoltaic and wind working in a P2P power-sharing configuration in Durban, South Africa [6]. A breakeven point after 4.3 years at $13,500 and a "true" payback period of 8.76 years were obtained with a 20-year lifecycle projected saving of around $60,536.82 or 47.42% [6].…”