The energy system is undergoing a major transformation where the dependence on fossil fuels needs to be replaced with solely sources of renewable energy. The increased share of renewable intermittent electricity production, together with urbanization, electrification, and digitalization, creates challenges for the operation security in the electricity system. Moving from a centralized to a decentralized electricity system is considered a solution to face the challenges of the energy system. In EU's Clean Energy Package, the concept of energy communities emerged to achieve decentralized energy systems. Energy communities lack a clear definition, but overall, it can be explained as a collaboration between local stakeholders who produce, consume, and manage their own energy systems to create economic, environmental, and social benefits.  In this study, the definition of energy communities is broad and is defined as a local area where electricity is shared between at least two buildings through a direct current grid or virtually through smart meters. As the concept is underdeveloped and lacks a clear enabling framework, the purpose of this study is to investigate how energy communities are developing in Sweden today. The focus of the study is to examine the roles of actors in the development of energy communities and the driving forces they have, the challenges and associated solutions that actors have encountered, and the system benefits that energy communities can contribute to.  The results show that roles in an energy community are general and can be taken by different types of actors depending on local conditions, interests and knowledge. Despite the variation of roles, the roles of an aggregator, knowledge bank, and a project manager are essential for the development of energy communities. The drivers for developing energy communities are closely linked to the project manager and their internal goals within the organization. Drivers are largely dependent on the roles of the actors within the energy community, where for example electricity grid companies’ focus on creating a system perspective of the energy community's position and role in the energy system. In summary, the results show that the biggest drivers are to reduce electricity grid costs and to balance load of the electricity grid.  Several different types of challenges are mentioned by the interviewees, where the challenges can be divided into technical, economic, social, and legislative. The most debated challenge in literature and in the interviews are legislative challenges, where legislation is considered unclear by most interviewees. Important solutions that are mentioned are to create consensus and cooperation between actors and to follow the development to understand the opportunities and consequences of energy communities.  The system benefits that energy communities can create for the electricity system are, based on the literature and on the results from the survey and interview study, difficult to define. Several projects are still under development, which means that system benefits have not yet been documented and therefore rely heavily on thoughts about future development. Common system benefits mentioned in this study are that energy communities can relieve the main electricity grid by a decrease in power outtake and providing flexibility services as well as increasing the total share of renewable energy sources.

District energy systems are a key component to addressing reductions in green house gases, encouraging compact settlement form and ensuring reliable community energy delivery. System development can also generate local economic benefits like aggregated energy pricing and employment creation. This research focuses on an exploration of Ontario’s planning framework with respect to energy generation and thermal energy distribution, providing broad recommendations to municipalities intended to help facilitate the development of district energy systems. In summary, this research was designed to accomplish the following objectives: 1. To craft a set of transferrable recommendations that will help Ontario municipalities facilitate the development of district energy systems where appropriate. 2. To add to the literature available on district energy system development from a municipal planning perspective. 3. To examine the tools available to planning practitioners to help engage communities and municipalities in planning for local energy generation and delivery. The methodological approach employed for this research is qualitative in nature, relying on an inductive style building from particulars to general themes. The characteristics of a qualitative study are best suited to address the research questions and objectives because community energy planning and land use planning are largely unexplored in conjunction, and this methodology provides a framework to explore where the fields have integrated in practice as well as reveal some of the challenges and potential solutions. Case studies were used to examine the development of two different Ontario district energy systems. Additionally, key informant interviews provide insights from planners, system operators, customers and industry experts to provide a practice based foundation of information to development transferable recommendations. The findings suggest that the development of a district energy system is a very complex process, requiring the expertise of many specialists, and the support from local stakeholders. There are planning implications for the implementation of district energy systems, which require forethought at the beginning of the planning process and opportunities to support community based energy solutions through policy. The adoption of a planning regulatory framework will ensure adequate consideration is given to community energy management in conjunction with land use and urban form. Going forward, accounting for the conservation of energy in land use will be imperative for achieving local, regional and provincial goals associated with infrastructure, the environment, and energy resource management.

District energy systems are a key component to addressing reductions in green house gases, encouraging compact settlement form and ensuring reliable community energy delivery. System development can also generate local economic benefits like aggregated energy pricing and employment creation. This research focuses on an exploration of Ontario’s planning framework with respect to energy generation and thermal energy distribution, providing broad recommendations to municipalities intended to help facilitate the development of district energy systems. In summary, this research was designed to accomplish the following objectives: 1. To craft a set of transferrable recommendations that will help Ontario municipalities facilitate the development of district energy systems where appropriate. 2. To add to the literature available on district energy system development from a municipal planning perspective. 3. To examine the tools available to planning practitioners to help engage communities and municipalities in planning for local energy generation and delivery. The methodological approach employed for this research is qualitative in nature, relying on an inductive style building from particulars to general themes. The characteristics of a qualitative study are best suited to address the research questions and objectives because community energy planning and land use planning are largely unexplored in conjunction, and this methodology provides a framework to explore where the fields have integrated in practice as well as reveal some of the challenges and potential solutions. Case studies were used to examine the development of two different Ontario district energy systems. Additionally, key informant interviews provide insights from planners, system operators, customers and industry experts to provide a practice based foundation of information to development transferable recommendations. The findings suggest that the development of a district energy system is a very complex process, requiring the expertise of many specialists, and the support from local stakeholders. There are planning implications for the implementation of district energy systems, which require forethought at the beginning of the planning process and opportunities to support community based energy solutions through policy. The adoption of a planning regulatory framework will ensure adequate consideration is given to community energy management in conjunction with land use and urban form. Going forward, accounting for the conservation of energy in land use will be imperative for achieving local, regional and provincial goals associated with infrastructure, the environment, and energy resource management.

EU har, genom antagandet av paketet för ren energi 2019, erkänt värdet och potentialen hos lokala energisamhällen inom Europeiska unionen. Det har observerats vara ett lönsamt verktyg för de europeiska medborgarna att direkt kunna delta i energiomställningen. Betydelsen av medborgarnas deltagande i kampen mot klimatförändringar har fastställts som avgörande och som en andra pelare bredvid uppifrån-och-ner-strategin genom Parisavtalet 2015. Denna uppsats fastställer definitionen och funktionen av lokala energigemenskapersom en del av den europeiska klimatstrategin. Svenska energimarknadsinspektionen har nyligen släppt en rapport och ett förslag om genomförandet av lokala energigemenskaper i Sverige. Jag tycker att förslaget är otillräckligt och otillfredsställande mot bakgrund av målet och syftet bakom EU-direktiven. Värdet av detta verktyg har inte erkänts i förslaget. Genom att granska deras förslag har jag hittat ett par viktiga aspekter som bör beaktas, särskilt för gemenskaper för förnybar energi, när de implementeras i Sverige. Bland annat bör Sverige göra en vidare utredning kring de ekonomiska incitamenten, möjligheten att förvalta och äga eget nät samt lokala energigemenskaper i relation till de nationella klimatmålen och Sveriges behov. Avslutningsvis kunde konstateras att det finns en hel del att reflektera över innan implementeringen kan färdigställas i Sverige. Anförda aspekter i denna uppsats är långt ifrån uttömmande och avser enbart de aspekter jag funnit särskilt viktiga. För att lokala energigemenskaper ska nå framgång, särskilt gemenskaper för förnybar energi, förutsätter det att Sverige är beredd på att ändra sin nuvarande strategi, men också inse att det finns ett behov av förändring. / EU have, through the adoption of the Clean energy package 2019, recognized the value and potential of local energy communities within the European union. They have been observed to be a profitable tool for the European citizens to be able to directly participate in the energy transition. The importance of the citizens participation in the fight against climate changes have been established as crucial and a second pillar beside the top-down approach through the Paris Agreement. This essay aims to determine the definition and function of local energy communities as a part of the European climate strategy. The Swedish Energy Markets Inspectorate has recently released a report and proposal on the implementation of local energy communities in Sweden. I have found the proposal inadequate and unsatisfactory in the light of the goal and purpose behind the EU directives. The value of this tool has not been recognised in the proposal. By reviewing their proposal, I have found a couple of key aspects that should be heeded, especially concerning Renewable energy communities, when implemented in Sweden. For example, it is deemed necessary that Sweden needs to further investigate the economic incentivesfor these communities. Further investigation is also needed regarding the possibility for Renewable energy communities to own and govern their own grid. Local energy communities as a tool to achieve the national climate goals and to solve other energy-related issues in Sweden should be explored. Finally, we can ascertain that there are several aspects to reflect further upon before the finalization of the implementation of local energy communities. Aspects touched upon in this essay is far from exhaustive and reflect those that I have deemed to be of utmost importance. To unlock the potential of local energy communities and ensure their success, especially concerning renewable energy communities, Sweden must be prepared to change their current strategy as well as realize the need for said change.

Community energy projects have such a fire burning inside of them. This often originates from or is at least fueled by the people in charge - let us call them driving spirits. We wondered what makes these inspiring persons so unique, which led us to our research question: What characteristics does a person need to become the driving spirit of a community energy project? We searched for existing driving spirits of European energy communities to let them tell their stories and have their voices be heard. In order to inspire others to realize their potential and possibly take action also outside of the academic world, we wrote our entire thesis in a storytelling approach. We set the scene by looking at the environment of energy communities and the role of the driving spirit. We analyzed the conducted semi-structured interviews and simultaneous observations using the theory of entrepreneurial leaders, to see whether their unique characteristics match the ones of our driving spirits. Overall, we found that their core characteristics are passion, vision, integrity, ability to motivate and the newly-identified aspect of team. These are complemented by resilience, self-confidence as well as being decisive, sociable, intuitive and flexible. Moreover, there exist interdependencies between the characteristics that have not been discussed in theory before. Going through this entire story of a thesis helped us analyze these people behind community energy projects, brought them closer to us and made us see how we - and maybe you - could potentially start our own story, following their example.

To hasten the transition to reliance on renewable energy sources, energy communities could be part of the solution. An energy community, in this report, is defined as several residential houses that come together and share a virtual fuse for a bigger tariff subscription to the energy grid. The project aims to investigate the economical benefits of an energy community and what the power grid companies want in return to create a win-win situation for both. The first part of the results is produced through calculations on tariff costs based on the measured energy consumption for over 200 houses in different power grid areas in Sweden. The other builds on interviews with different power grid companies. The results show that the energy community saves around 60% of tariff costs. Benefits for the grid companies could be postponed expansion, behavioral changes, effectively utilized local production and storage, and increased knowledge. This project shows that it’s economically beneficial for members of an energy community with today’s tariffs at the expense of the grid companies. If the community invest in PV systems and battery storage as well as behavioral change of energy consumption, it may create a win-win situation. / Sveriges energibehov förutspås öka och för att dessutom påskynda omställningen till förnybara energikällor försöker EU få medborgare att engagera sig i större utsträckning. Energigemenskaper skulle kunna spela en roll i energiomställningen. En energigemenskap definieras inom projektet som flera bostadshus som går samman och delar en virtuell säkring för ett större elnätsabonnemang. Syftet är att undersöka de ekonomiska fördelarna med den här sortens energigemenskap samt vad elnätsbolag skulle vilja ha i gengäld för att skapa en win-win situation för både en energigemenskap och ett elnätsbolag.  Den första delen av projektets resultat tas fram genom beräkningar på tariffkostnader baserade på den uppmätta energiförbrukningen över tre år för över 200 hus som placeras i olika elnätsområden i Sverige. En jämförelse har gjorts, som enskilda hushåll och en energigemenskap, med olika parametervärden. Den andra bygger på intervjuer med olika elnätsföretag kring vad de kan se för nytta med en energigemenskap. Resultaten visar att energigemenskapen sparar runt 60 % av tariffkostnaderna. Fördelar för elnätsbolagen är till exempel att expansionen av elnätet kan skjutas upp. Detta genom beteendeförändringar av energianvändning, effektivt utnyttjande av lokal produktion och lagring, ökad kunskap om elnätet och hur energianvändning påverkar.  Slutsatserna av projektet är att det är ekonomiskt fördelaktigt för medlemmarna i en energigemenskap med dagens tariffstrukturer på elnätbolagens bekostnad. Om energigemenskapen investerar i solceller och batterilagring samt beteendeförändring av energiförbrukning skulle det kunna skapa en win-win situation för kunder och elnätsbolag.

The emergence of energy communities entails the development of alternative energy systems, where consumers become active participants in the complex networks of material and semiotic actors. This paper looks at how local sociotechnical imaginaries are performed on island of Gotland, in Sweden. Grounded in Science, technology and society studies and co-production theory, this study provides a framework analysis of a set of documents and an interview, through the identification of conflicting visions, or sociotechnical imaginaries, of energy transition locally. The Swedish energy system is adapting slowly to the changing environment, and conflicts have emerged between national and local imaginaries. Here, the literature fails to provide satisfying arguments around political processes leading to the creation of alternative visions of energy futures. This study shows how normative orientations shape and are shaped by each other, and how alternative visions of progress often fail to be actualized and performed as long as they exist in combination with dominant visions. The two imaginaries, on one side the dominant, on the other the radical, fail to come to terms with each other because of the structural inadequacy of a system dominated by a political rationality which is unaware of itself.

Energy communities are formed to create integrated regional energy market in EU and non- EU neighboring countries. It attracts investors in generation and energy networks as it comes up with new stable regulations, so that it will ensure the supply is stable and continuous. Five EU countries (Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece, Austria) with different policies are selected and simulations are done. Economic analysis for the 5 countries is done based on simulation results. The selected 5 EU countries shows a good economic result; therefore, it can be recommended to implement energy communities and cities by developing the directives. By transposition of policies of the energy community and implementing more subsidies or incentive will make a better contribution for the citizen partnership for creating CEC.

The Energising Development (EnDev) initiative, for which the GIZ acts as implementing agency, promotes the supply of modern energy technologies to households and small‐scale businesses in the rural communities of 24 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia. In Indonesia, this has been achieved through off‐grid micro‐hydro (MHP) and solar power mini‐grids and since 2006 230 MHP and 117 solar projects have been supported to varying degree at substantial cost, reaching more than 167 thousand people. The objective of this study is to assess this contribution of the EnDev-Indonesia initiative regarding the MHP performance and ultimate long‐term sustainability prospect of the rural energy infrastructure in the country. As such a comparison between EnDev and non-EnDev MHP projects in the country was undertaken and based on the established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) survey methodology and the DB&TO sustainability model specifically fashioned for the purpose of this study. This approach involved on‐site visits and comprises technical, social, economic and environmental aspects. As a result, the analysis has shown important differences among the different supporting schemes, with the second implementing phase (2009‐2012) of EnDev outranking the other systems largely due to the high level of technical sustainability achieved by these sites. Such a good performance is even more surprising considering that the EnDev1 sites implemented during the first phase of the program in the early years were among the least‐sustainable investigated in this study. However, despite the high costs necessary to reach such a high level of sustainability as regards the quality of the civil works and electro‐mechanical equipments, this aspect alone was found not enough to guarantee the long‐term sustainability of MHP in Indonesia. On the other hand, lack of social and economic sustainability appeared having fatal consequences onthe operations of many plants. Therefore, such complex interrelation among the different aspects of sustainability was investigated and also external factors, like the regional and cultural differences among the different beneficiaries, were addressed. Finally, recommendations for future eventual courses of action were proposed.

The use of renewable energy has proven to be essential for the decarbonisation of the energy system, bringing changes on both the production and consumption side, with an increase of renewable energy in the mix and a change in the role of consumers. From passive actors, Consumers are becoming Prosumers (producers and consumers) of self-generated energy, with the potential of becoming the pillar of the energy sector transition. The European Union set ambitious goals for the realization of a low carbon society by 2050, giving birth to several energy related initiatives. From a regulatory perspective, Europe is indeed paving the way for an internal energy market revolution, that sees the introduction of new actors among which, Local Energy Communities (LEC). In the progressive transition from a centralized to a decentralized system with intelligent and interconnected production sources, consumers are allowed to produce, store, share or resell their energy directly or as energy cooperatives, and can manage demand either independently or through aggregators. In this context Energy Communities take shape. In accordance with the definition given in the European RED directive "Renewable Energy Directive", this study refers to energy communities as a set of energy users who, through cooperatives, non-profit associations, or other legal forms, make common decisions for the satisfaction of their energy needs, with the aim of providing environmental, social and economic benefits. The overall objective of the study is to gain a better understanding of the environmental, grid and social impacts of local energy communities, as well as of the factors that can potentially enable or inhibit the deployment of such communities. The emergence of prosumers and energy communities raise new challenges in terms of technologies and technical requirements for the interaction with the electricity grid, in terms of the need for new business models and new energy policies and regulatory framework, to encourage these new configurations and unlock their benefits as effectively as possible. In the context of this work, a model for the assessment of LECs viability has been built; it examines the consumption and renewable generation loads, with the possibility to measure the effects of adding a battery storage system in the community configuration. The profitability of residential customers participating in a LEC is investigated for four different technological community scenario: (i) solely stand-alone PV plant (ii) stand-alone PV plant with the addition of a solar battery for self-consumption maximization (iii) stand-alone PV plant with the addition of a battery storage system for Demand Side Management behind-the-meter and (iv) stand-alone PV plant with the addition of a battery storage system for Demand Side Management front-of-the-meter. The economic impact of storage on LEC energy usage has been studied while considering the technical aspects of the proposed system. The simulation analysis – based on real residential demand profiles, renewable generation curves, battery energy storage functioning, market pricing and incentives scheme, showed that energy sharing and collective investment in residential scale renewable assets and batteries can be economically feasible, but the economics can significantly fluctuate with changes in parameters such as technology cost, LECs incentives, electricity prices, and that therefore the convenience of one scenario over the others should be verified each time the conditions change. Also, the type of services for which the battery can get revenues may disrupt the conclusions reached. The aim of the work, however, was to build a model easily adaptable to the variation of these parameters, in order to calculate case by case economics and convenience of any possible community configuration. / Användningen av förnybar energi har visat sig vara avgörande för att minska koldioxidutsläppen från energisystemet, vilket medför förändringar både på produktions- och konsumtionssidan, med en ökad andel förnybar energi i mixen och en förändrad roll för konsumenterna. Från att ha varit passiva aktörer blir konsumenterna nu Prosumers, producenter och konsumenter av egenproducerad energi, med potential att bli en pelare i övergången inom energisektorn. Europeiska unionen har satt upp ambitiösa mål om att förverkliga ett samhälle med låga koldioxidutsläpp senast 2050, vilket har gett upphov till flera energirelaterade initiativ. Ur ett regleringsperspektiv banar Europa verkligen väg för en revolution på den inre energimarknaden, där nya aktörer kommer att introduceras, bland annat lokala energikommuner. I den gradvisa övergången från ett centraliserat till ett decentraliserat system med intelligenta och sammankopplade produktionskällor får konsumenterna producera, lagra, dela eller sälja sin energi direkt eller som energikooperativ, och de kan hantera efterfrågan antingen självständigt eller genom aggregatorer. I detta sammanhang tar energisamhällen form. I enlighet med definitionen i det europeiska direktivet om förnybar energi i den här studien avses med energisamhällen en grupp energianvändare som genom kooperativ, ideella föreningar eller andra juridiska former fattar gemensamma beslut för att tillgodose sina energibehov, i syfte att skapa miljömässiga, sociala och ekonomiska fördelar. Det övergripande målet med studien är att få en bättre förståelse för de miljömässiga, nätmässiga och sociala konsekvenserna av lokala energisamhällen, samt för de faktorer som kan möjliggöra eller hindra införandet av sådana samhällen. Framväxten av prosumenter och energisamhällen ger upphov till nya utmaningar när det gäller teknik och tekniska krav för samverkan med elnätet, när det gäller behovet av nya affärsmodeller och ny energipolitik och regelverk för att uppmuntra dessa nya konfigurationer och frigöra deras fördelar på ett så effektivt sätt som möjligt. Inom ramen för detta arbete har en modell för bedömning av LECs lönsamhet byggts upp. Den undersöker förbrukning och belastning från förnybar produktion, med möjlighet att mäta effekterna av att lägga till ett batterilagringssystem i samhällskonfigurationen. Lönsamheten för privatkunders deltagande i ett LEC undersöks för fyra olika tekniska samhällsscenarier: (i) enbart fristående solcellsanläggning, (ii) fristående solcellsanläggning med tillägg av ett solcellsbatteri för maximering av självförbrukningen, (iii) fristående solcellsanläggning med tillägg av ett batterilagringssystem för styrning av efterfrågan bakom mätaren och (iv) fristående solcellsanläggning med tillägg av ett batterilagringssystem för styrning av efterfrågan framför mätaren. Lagringens ekonomiska inverkan på LECs energianvändning har studerats samtidigt som de tekniska aspekterna av det föreslagna systemet har beaktats. Simuleringsanalysen - som i skrivande stund bygger på verkliga efterfrågeprofiler för bostäder, kurvor för förnybar produktion, batterilagringens funktion, marknadens prissättning och incitamentssystem - visade att energidelning och kollektiva investeringar i förnybara tillgångar och batterier i bostadsområden kan vara ekonomiskt genomförbara, men att ekonomin kan fluktuera avsevärt med förändringar i parametrar som teknikkostnader, incitament för LEC:s och elpriser, och att det därför är lämpligt att kontrollera om det är fördelaktigt att välja ett scenario framför de andra varje gång förhållandena förändras. Även den typ av tjänster som batteriet kan få intäkter för kan påverka de slutsatser som dras. Syftet med arbetet var dock att bygga en modell som lätt kan anpassas till variationen av dessa parametrar, för att från fall till fall beräkna ekonomin och bekvämligheten hos alla möjliga konfigurationer av samhället.