COMUNIDADES ENERGÉTICAS SOSTENIBLES: INICIATIVAS DE FOMENTO EN LA UE Y OPORTUNIDADES DE DESARROLLO EN ESPAÑA

Abstract

These communities (business parks, industrial parks, rural areas, little villages, etc.) organize themselves to manage their own energy resources, optimizing the consumption, maximizing the efficiency of generation and making the most of available local energy resources. In this way, they increase their self-sufficiency and reduce the dependence on external supplies. Several organisms of the European Union and North America try to promote this organization model, which is growing in these countries. The Concerto Initiative of the European Commission, which will be described in the present document, is a program aimed to support the development of these communities in Europe. In our research line, we try to study the technical and economic feasibility of this organization model in Spain, including: • Energy optimization measures appropriate for the characteristics of each community: number and type of users, consumption profiles, available renewable resources, etc. • Management methods. • Economic profitability. • Barriers for the development of this type of organization and the transition of the current centralized model towards a decentralized model, in which multiple local production units (DEC: Decentralized Energy Clusters) produce their own energy and interchange it among themselves and the national grids. • Examples of Spanish energy communities developed with the support of the CONCERTO Initiative.