Hourly Simulation of Energy Community with Photovoltaic Generator and Electric Vehicle

Europe has set the ambitious goal to become the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. Therefore, it has undertaken several initiatives to promote the energy transition, including the active participation of citizens in the energy sector. In this context, recent European directives introduced the concept of energy community, whose members can consume, share, and store energy locally produced. This work proposes an energy and economic simulation of a renewable energy community powered by a 19.2 kWp photovoltaic system in the province of Cuneo, in Piedmont (Italy). The community consists of a prosumer, which owns the photovoltaic system and a charging station for electric vehicles, and other 17 energy users. Suitable indicators to assess the energy performance of the community (self-consumption and self-sufficiency) were evaluated starting from the estimated production and consumption power profiles. Then, an economic simulation was carried out to assess the economic return on the investment for the member who bore the initial costs and the annual economic savings for the others.