The real-world lab project SoLAR in Allensbach at Lake Constance/Germany demonstrates the potential of intelligent energy sector coupling. With a real-time price system based on electric grid state variables, customers play an active role, sharing energy and using flexible appliances as “virtual batteries” for renewable energy integration. The approach minimizes cost of energy storage and grid extension whilst ensuring availability and resilience as well as low complexity of the energy system. Citizens, engaging in climate protection, initiated the project. Renowned research institutes and companies implemented the project in a new residential development with 22 households in 12 semi-detached houses and 2 apartment buildings connected with an existing building with three households. It includes PV and smart control of a CHP unit, 12 heat pumps, several household appliances, charging units for electric vehicles and batteries. The complex has a private grid with tenant power supply as business case. The project showed a raise in the CHP and PV electricity self-consumption rate from 55 to 73 %. In a next stage demonstration, the partners want to show how to scale the system to a whole distribution grid. In this context, they propose a new tariff system, including dynamic price components. This will maximise economic and individual benefits and aims to respond to existing EU regulatory requirements.

In New Zealand you will find many ‘marae’ around the country – they are fenced-in complexes of carved buildings and grounds that belong to a particular iwi (tribe), hapū (sub-tribe) or whānau (family). Māori see their marae as their ‘tūrangawaewae’ - their place to stand and belong. The five marae involved in this project belong to six different hapu in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. In 19th Century New Zealand, as many iwi and hapu lost their land as a result of land confiscation or purchase, several hapu migrated to Te Reureu Valley to protect their land interests and have held that land since around 1840’s (Tamepo, 2015). As with many hapu, their marae is their main point of co-ordination. The hapu have big aspirations to work collectively to manage their agricultural land and support socio-economic development and prospects for the community. Although the hapu have explored options for solar PV throughout the years, this project was one of the first projects the marae have worked on collectively together, and was their very first energy project. It involved installation of rooftop solar PV on five marae as well as on the roof of three local Kāinga whānau - families living on ancestral Māori land - across the region. By working with a community retailer, Our Energy, surplus electricity is sold to 12 vulnerable households at a low-cost energy tariff (0.06$NZD/kWh, approximately 18% of retail price).   This project was led by Graeme Everton, a local entrepreneur with longstanding family roots in the area, in close collaboration with John Campbell, a long-time advocate for community energy and founder and CEO of Our Energy, a leading energy innovation start-up deploying online local energy market platforms. The project received the Sustainable Energy Association NZ 2023 Ara Ake Award for Innovation. Graeme Everton passed away unexpectedly three days after the community battery was installed and as we were wrapping up this case study. This project is his legacy.

The market actors within the simulation are based on the BioZon pilot, in which there are a total of 50 households participating. Next to that, electricity is produced by a landfill gas generator (85 kW). The following market actors are involved in the energy community: Citizen investors: 50 households invested a total of €43.350 Consumers: A total of 30 households participate in the pilot for self-supply of electricity produced by the project. Landfill gas generator: The landfill gas generator is modelled as a large-scale fixed generator with a peak power production of 85 kW (constant 1 p.u. over time). ENTRNCE Platform: ENTRNCE operates a LEM platform which significantly lowers market entry barriers, enabling their users to become active market participants. This LEM platform facilitates direct  peer-to-peer transactions while market access to wholesale markets is facilitated as well.  ENTRNCE facilitates the market access for the Biozon energy community to the wholesale market, to trade residual volumes and settle the imbalance.

BCPG and Powerledger have jointly recognized a promising opportunity to commercialize an innovative business model centered around distributed energy generation, specifically focusing on sharing surplus generation from solar PV systems. To explore the viability of this concept, they embarked on a trial of Powerledger’s P2P energy trading platform. This trial took place at the T77 Community Soi Sukhumvit 77 in Bangkok, Thailand. The project incorporates a total of six commercial participants and one residential apartment complex in close vicinity to each other. The main aim of this trial project was to assess the feasibility of implementing the proposed P2P trading solution to foster a sharing economy. The project optimizes the utilization of solar PV systems installed on rooftops within the community buildings in an environment with no available remuneration from the grid for surplus solar energy. The ultimate goal was to showcase the potential benefits and capabilities of the P2P energy trading platform, while simultaneously gathering valuable insights to inform and enhance future projects. By exploring this innovative approach to energy generation and distribution, BCPG and Powerledger aspire to revolutionize the energy sector, creating a more decentralized and efficient energy exchange system. The successful deployment of the P2P energy trading platform signifies their confidence in the viability and scalability of this model. This transformative initiative not only has the potential to benefit the involved stakeholders, including the communities, but also represents a step forward in the global pursuit of sustainable and eco-friendly energy solutions.

The CMU P2P trading project is part of the smart campus platform developed by the Thai Digital Energy Development (TDED) and Chiang Mai University (CMU), in collaboration with several smart grid service providers such as BCPG and Powerledger. This initiative supports CMU’s reputation as a pioneering ‘green’ institution by propelling its carbon neutrality goals. BCPG, CMU, TDED, PEA and Powerledger embraced this opportunity and created a project that realized the trading of solar energy generated across 150 university buildings with rooftop solar, through a blockchain-based P2P energy trading platform. This helps create a ‘circular economy’ within the university ecosystem by utilizing all solar PV generation on-site. Additionally, the project aims to facilitate the transition of a specific CMU building to operate with net zero greenhouse gas emissions and showcase a business model contribution to the digital utility strategy of the Provincial Electrical Authority (PEA). The trading community comprises all three CMU campuses, with two being co-located and the third situated 5.7 km away. The trading platform enables the transfer of surplus energy between all university buildings. The project aims to demonstrate the dynamics and benefits of a P2P sharing community within a diverse community such as a university complex. An additional objective was to demonstrate the advantages and capabilities of the P2P energy trading platform, while also collecting important insights to improve future initiatives. Through this novel approach to energy management, BCPG, CMU and Powerledger seek to transform the energy industry into a more decentralized and efficient system for exchanging energy.

Powerledger, in collaboration with an Indian DISCOM, has demonstrated through this trial involving over 1,000 participants the viability of P2P energy trading on a large scale. The DISCOM wanted to explore alternative rooftop solar (RTS) remuneration schemes, other than existing net metering (NM) or feed-in-tariff (FIT) schemes to accelerate the adoption of RTS contributing to meeting Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs). This has become one of India's most pressing energy challenges, as the uptake of RTS has not been in line with national targets. P2P trading provides a market-based approach to stipulate RTS growth and proves advantageous compared to traditional schemes in various ways. The trial project provided an example to explore the financial and environmental benefits of P2P trading by utilising different P2P approaches such as fixed-price trading, dynamic trading or preferential trading over six months. Incorporating a range of different participants, such as domestic, municipalities, C&I and social institutions each with unique tariffs and load requirements, demonstrates that P2P trading can deliver benefits for all participant groups. This can unlock the required support from relevant regulators to commercially roll out this solution in the region.

The joint project between an independent European Retailer and Powerledger, a software provider for green energy solutions, and the local network operator provides the retailer’s customers with an opportunity to select their source of energy from participating generators. The projects support the retailer’s ambitions of providing customers with innovative services and offering them an opportunity to participate in the energy transition. The solution has been available to several thousand customers since the middle of 2023 and can potentially expand across the retailer’s total customer base (several hundreds of thousands). By utilizing the Powerledger Platform, customers receive details about the exact provenance and type of energy they consume, validated by smart meter readings. The software is based on a blockchain accounting system securely storing demand and generation readings. Energy transfers are recorded and settled at predefined time intervals. Participants received access to a user interface enabling them to choose a preferred option, such as a colocated generator or the cheapest source within the community. The case contributes to a well-connected network of energy market participants and displays the capabilities of a trading platform facilitating transactions between consumers and generators that favors and incentivizes green energy sources.

Alectra’s Power.House Hybrid (PHH) pilot project aimed to empower 10 households in Markham, Ontario, Canada to generate, store, and manage clean energy and encourage local residents toward moves to net-zero. The project was partially funded by Natural Resources Canada’s Smart Grid program, receiving $1,669,000 million over the project’s lifespan. The PHH project created a local Virtual Power Plant (VPP), made up of several components: rooftop solar, battery storage, hybrid natural gas/electric heating, micro combined heat and power, and electric vehicle chargers. All of this was coordinated through software and controllable electrical and thermal equipment. The project has allowed local residents to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, have greater control, save money, and increase comfort.

Alectra’s GridExchange pilot project aimed to engage 21 residential households and 4 local businesses in managing distributed energy resources (DER) through a peer-to-peer energy trading platform called the GridExchange App. Launched in collaboration with Natural Resources Canada, Sunverge, the University of Waterloo, FLO, and Savage Data Systems, the project enabled participants to buy, sell, and share locally produced energy within their community, while also receiving financial compensation for their contributions. The project utilized blockchain technology to facilitate secure energy transactions and allowed Alectra to balance energy supply and demand through automated systems. By participating, residents were able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower their energy bills, and support the development of decentralized energy systems.

Haystacks solar garden is in the Riverina region of New South Wales, and has provided an opportunity for 333 cooperative members to purchase solar garden plots equivalent to 3kW. Each plot, priced at $4,200, is estimated to generate an average annual credit of $505 on a member's electricity bill for ten years. Cooperative Capital Units (CCUs), a type of debenture, are the legal tool used for selling these solar garden plots to the co-op members.   The sale of these 333 solar garden plots worth $1,398,000 has financed the farm. This amount is intended to be loaned to the 1.5MW Grong Grong Solar Farm, helping to fund its construction. The remaining funds for construction are sourced from the equity owners of Grong Grong Solar Farm and grant funding provided by the NSW Government Regional Community Energy Fund.   The loan repayments from Grong Grong Solar Farm to Haystacks Solar Garden form the revenue stream necessary to create on-bill credits for the members. This approach not only promotes the adoption of renewable energy but also offers a unique investment opportunity for individuals in the cooperative, aligning financial incentives with environmental sustainability. This model represents a significant advancement in community-driven renewable energy initiatives, demonstrating a viable pathway for similar projects in the future.