Different allocation mechanisms to distribute the total profits of the Italian Renewable Energy Community

Energy communities could benefit from an optimal match between total energy generation and demand, resulting in economic gains. A main issue is the distribution of the optimal economic gain of an energy community among its members. Several works apply a single criterion of cost/profit allocation within an energy community, neglecting the impact of different criteria on different members. This paper aims at evaluating and comparing two different cost/profit allocation mechanisms, i.e., the cooperative “Shapley value”, based on the marginal contributions of members to any coalition within the energy community, and the “Uniform pricing”, which relies on a uniform price that is independent of the cooperation among members. According to the Italian legislation, a centralized Renewable Energy Community with virtual energy sharing scheme is analysed. The community encompasses one consumer and two prosumers with shiftable electrical demands that are representative of the tertiary, residential ...