Establishing Mutually Beneficial Local Energy Markets

Abstract

A large part of the extraordinary growth seen in renewable energy production has occurred among variable technologies (wind power and solar PV), raising concerns about the challenges of integrating large shares of variable generation into power systems. The project aimed to test the feasibility of a trailblazer energy trading system for local energy economies, that aims to be a cost-effective demand response solution to securing efficient energy supply. The concept was a win-win for producers, consumers (and prosumers) of energy, and also national grid and distribution systems, aiming to reduce network stress and power outages.

EMBLEM directly addressed an energy trilemma; security of supply, affordability and emissions, aiming to significantly improve performance in all three areas. The proposed final product, an integrated Renewable Energy (RE) monitoring, trading and billing platform, is an enabling technology that matches variable supply of RE with real-time demand. The smart energy monitoring technology had been tested in parallel with front-end user-interface development and presented the potential to aggregate household energy flow data in a low-cost manner with low data requirements.

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