Energy-Sharing Mechanisms and Renewable Energy Communities: State of Development, Technologies, Challenges and Opportunities
A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "C: Energy Economics and Policy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 August 2025 | Viewed by 460
Special Issue Editors
Interests: CCUS
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: heat pumps; multi energy systems; energy flexibility; model predictive controls
Interests: telecommunications (TLC); cyber-physical systems (CPS); smart cities; intelligent transport systems (ITS); energy communities; (deep) reinforcement learning; distributed and decentralized control frameworks; hybrid control algorithms; optimal control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Energy-sharing mechanisms and renewable energy communities (RECs) have changed the paradigm of energy production, distribution, and consumption. The increasing number of decentralized renewable energy systems allows communities to reduce their dependence on traditional grid systems and share surplus energy using digital platforms and smart grids. This is based on real-time consumption, enabling the balancing of energy supply and demand within communities.
From a technological point of view, the success of RECs depends on advancements in energy storage systems, blockchain for peer-to-peer trading, and evolving energy management systems.
Despite the huge impacts, many challenges remain: regulatory barriers and the need for standardized frameworks across regions, issues related to interoperability between different technologies, high investment costs, and the need to ensure equitable access to benefits.
A fundamental aspect to ensure the success of these new energy paradigms encompasses community engagement, as well as the formation and information of populations regarding personal and social opportunities, such as increased energy independence, lower carbon emissions, and economic benefits for participating households. Energy-sharing mechanisms also support the transition to more resilient and sustainable energy systems, aligned with the climate action goals and the democratization of energy.
Dr. Barbara Marchetti
Dr. Alice Mugnini
Dr. Andrea Tortorelli
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- RECs
- energy sharing
- energy transition
- smart grid
- energy democratization
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