Impulse for energy communities: sharing of energy from renewable sources
The use of renewable sources and new smart systems is growing to use energy more efficiently for the benefit of the environment and users. In South Tyrol Regalgrid Europe, a leading company in the supply of digital energy services for Energy Communities, works together with the green energy provider Alperia, on the creation of the first local Energy Communities.
During this collaboration, which began two years ago, several initiatives were jointly promoted by the two companies within the Energy Communities, including pilot projects aimed at the hotel sector, farms and residential users;
among others, particular attention and resources were dedicated to the pilot project conducted at the NOITechpark Technology Park in Bolzano with the active involvement of EURAC, which represents a first example in South Tyrol of optimized functioning of an Energy Community, currently in an advanced phase of operation and development.
The “Milleproroghe” decree of 28 February 2020 definitively sanctioned the possibility for Italy to proceed with the establishment of the Energy Communities, acknowledging in advance the European directives on renewable energy and the electricity market. Energy Communities represent the tool through which different users, consumers and energy producers can aggregate by sharing the energy generated by one or more renewable energy plants, such as photovoltaic and wind. On September 15, 2020, the regulatory and implementation process was completed, thanks to which it is now possible to give life to the Energy Communities, with great benefits for users thanks to the incentives that will remunerate the members who will be part of it.
Alperia and Regalgrid are preparing for this moment, collecting and analyzing, in collaboration with EURAC, large amounts of data in the field and developing new business models suitable for facing this new great opportunity for the entire electricity market chain in general and for that of renewable energies in particular.
Thanks to the intelligent management of energy assets through the Regalgrid® digital energy platform, the excellent results achieved by the Energy Community created at the NOITechpark Technology Park in Bolzano in terms of both sensible optimization of energy flows within the Community itself, with a relative significant increase in self-consumed energy, and potential economic savings by interconnected users, have been analyzed and certified by EURAC which will soon publish and disseminate the data.