Prosumer and Demand-Side Management Impact on Rural Communities’ Energy Balance

Abstract

The increasing use of renewable energy sources, together with an ever-increasing energy demand, puts the electrical grid under heavy pressure. Grid extensions mitigate these factors, but are very costly. Other methods enabling an economically viable energy transition towards more renewable energy sources should be explored. We present a preliminary assessment of the impact of different mixes of prosumers on the energy balance and self-consumption of a rural community. We quantify unused potential regarding demand-side management, the extension of photovoltaic peak power, as well as battery storage. We implement models for electric production and consumption profiles and simulate scenarios with varied prosumer compositions. The results show that demand-side management does not change the self-consumption of photovoltaic energy significantly, whereas installation of more battery storage together with increased photovoltaic production promises better results for the rural community studied.