The strategies, plans and legislation on energy market development and decarbonization in the European Union (EU) developed in recent years, such as the directives implementing the package “Clean energy for all Europeans”, aim at promoting not only renewable energy sources, but also new institutions that involve the development of local energy markets and a greater role for citizens in managing their own energy generation. At the same time, Poland remains the economy most dependent on coal and one of the largest air polluters in the EU. In order to minimize this problem and to meet the direction of energy development in the EU, Poland decided to establish, among other things, an energy cooperative. It is intended to fill the gap in the development of the civil dimension of energy on a local scale and at the same time improve efficiency in the use of the potential of renewable energy sources in rural areas. The authors of the paper seek to verify the extent to which this new institution, which is part of the idea of a local energy community, one of the driving forces for the implementation of the objectives and directions of development of “clean energy” set by the EU, has a chance to develop. The research took into account the characteristics of energy producers and consumers in rural areas, economic preferences provided for by law, relating to the functioning of an energy cooperative and the existing alternative solutions dedicated to prosumers. A dedicated mathematical model in the mixed integer programming technology was used to optimize the functioning of an energy cooperative, and more than 5000 simulations were carried out, with a typical optimization task performed as part of the research with about 50,000 variables. The conclusions and simulations make it possible to confirm the thesis that profitable energy cooperatives can be established in rural areas, with the objective of minimizing the sum of energy purchases from the distribution network and losses on the energy deposit (virtual network storage) (the energy deposit (or network deposit) should be understood as energy introduced to the grid during generation surpluses for its subsequent consumption, taking into account the discount factor).

The European Green Deal aims to make Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 by shifting to a clean circular economy, combating biodiversity loss and reducing pollution levels. In Poland, whose economy invariably remains one of the most dependent on coal consumption in Europe, institutional responses to the above EU objectives have taken the shape of energy cooperatives aimed at filling the gaps in the development of the civic dimension of energy on a local scale and the use of potential renewable energy sources in rural areas, including in relation to the agricultural sector. This article is a continuation of the authors’ previous research work, which has so far focused on the analysis of the development of profitability of Polish institutions that fit into the European idea of a “local energy community”, which includes energy cooperatives. In this research paper, they present the results of subsequent research work and analyses performed on the basis of it which, on the one hand, complement the previously developed optimization model with variables concerning actual energy storage and, on the other hand, analyze the profitability of the operation of energy cooperatives in the conditions of the “capacity market”. The latter was actually introduced in Poland at the beginning of 2021. The research took account of the characteristics of energy producers and consumers in rural areas of Poland, the legally defined rules for the operation of the capacity market and the institutional conditions for the operation of energy cooperatives that can use the potential of energy storage. A dedicated mathematical model in mixed integer programming technology was used, enriched with respect to previous research, making it possible to optimize the operation of energy cooperative with the use of actual energy storage (batteries). Conclusions from the research and simulation show that the installation of energy storage only partially minimizes the volume of energy drawn from the grid in periods when fees related to the capacity market are in force (which should be avoided due to higher costs for consumers). The analysis also indicates that a key challenge is the proper parameterization of energy storage.

The European Union has set itself ambitious emission-reduction targets—becoming carbon neutral by 2050. The member states’ energy systems are increasingly switching to renewable and decentralized configurations, in line with the EU guidelines. This is accompanied by the support for “prosumers”—entities that both consume and generate renewable energy. In parallel, a number of prosumer support schemes are emerging as a result of the search for optimal development paths. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the power market, causing huge anomalies mainly in demand and billing. The objective of the study was to assess the impact of the proposed changes in the prosumer schemes on the level of benefits prosumers obtained, including the performance of sensitivity analyses reflected in different levels and stability of electricity consumption resulting from extreme situations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerical computer simulations for five predefined prosumer support schemes were carried out in the R-project environment. The basic conclusion is that the prosumer benefits most from participating in the applicable discount mechanism, in which the unused energy is fed into a network storage, from which the prosumer can take 70% or 80% of the stored volume. The research also allows us to conclude that in Poland the COVID-19 pandemic has had a very significant impact on the level and profile of energy demand due to the introduction of restrictions on selected areas and economic sectors. The reduced demand is particularly visible in services (−58%), tourism and sport (−39%), and education (−19%). The analysis is an important contribution to the search for an optimal model of prosumer market development in Europe.

In the European Union, increasing attention is already being paid not only to the development of renewable energy sources, but also to the establishment of solutions to achieve local energy self-sufficiency while increasing the role of citizens in managing the energy they generate. This approach is expected both to have a positive impact on the environment and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and to enhance energy security—both in economic and civic terms by, i.a., combating energy poverty. The development of local energy communities promoted in the EU is supported i.a. by energy cooperatives. These contribute to the efficient harnessing of renewable energy potential in rural and urban-rural areas, and have been developing in Poland for several years now. In their previous studies, the authors of this research paper attempted to verify the generation (number, type and capacity of installed sources) and consumption (energy demand) configurations in which an energy cooperative would be a viable solution for prosumers who might establish it. However, over the past few years, the conditions for prosumers and the method of their accounting with the electricity seller have changed radically in Poland (shift from net metering to net billing). This situation has opened up space for further research and encouraged the authors to revisit the problem of analyzing the viability of establishing energy cooperatives in relation to the rules of operation of individual prosumers. This research was carried out for three scenarios, and the horizon of the analyses conducted and described extends to 2045. The comparative analysis included energy consumers without their own generation sources, prosumers with a photovoltaic generation installation covered by the net billing model, as well as a scenario involving prosumers’ cooperation within an energy cooperative, which by law is settled in the net metering model. Conclusions from the research and simulations made it possible to confirm the claim that, despite changes in the rules of prosumer billing, developing energy independence in the energy community formula results in a significant reduction in the cost of purchasing electricity (even several times lower purchase costs in the timeframe analyzed) and can lead to a reduction in the payback time of investments in generation sources even by a factor of two. The results presented in this research paper open up space for further research. The outcomes allow us to assume that energy cooperatives—in the organizational and institutional model in Poland—are a good tool for reducing the phenomenon of energy poverty on a local scale.

Poland remains the most coal-dependent economy in the EU. To minimize that problem, which is particularly clear and dangerous in the period of a shortage of fossil fuels, the Polish authorities have decided to establish various institutions, organizational and regulatory solutions. Their role is to support the development of renewable energy sources and local energy communities. The latter are to focus on optimizing the production and consumption of energy in pursuit of energy self-sufficiency on a local scale. One such institution, set up in Poland over the last several years, is the energy cooperative, which is intended to increase the efficient use of the potential of renewable energy sources in rural and urban–rural areas. The authors of this article verify the assumptions, for instance, the number, composition or production and members’ consumption profiles, under which such a relatively new institution has the chance to develop. A novelty in this research paper is that the interests of the entities composing a given energy cooperative may additionally be secured by the use of surplus generation for crypto-coin mining, and thus the storage of energy in virtual currency. A dedicated mathematical model in mixed-integer programming technology was used, enriched with respect to previous research, making it possible for members of the cooperative to achieve energy independence while maximizing self-consumption and using their excess energy for processing cryptocurrency. This is in line with the global trend of “greening”; the processes of acquiring electronic money.

According to the European Hydrogen Strategy, hydrogen will solve many of the problems with energy storage for balancing variable renewable energy sources (RES) supply and demand. At the same time, we can see increasing popularity of the so-called energy communities (e.g., cooperatives) which (i) enable groups of entities to invest in, manage, and benefit from shared RES energy infrastructure; (ii) are expected to increase the energy independence of local communities from large energy corporations and increase the share of RES. Analyses were conducted on 2000 randomly selected energy cooperatives and four energy cooperatives formed on the basis of actual data. The hypotheses assumed in the research and positively verified in this paper are as follows: (i) there is a relationship between hydrogen storage capacity and the power of RES, which allows an energy community to build energy independence; (ii) the type of RES generating source is meaningful when optimizing hydrogen storage capacity. The paper proves it is possible to build “island energy independence” at the local level using hydrogen storage and the efficiency of the power-to-power chain. The results presented are based on simulations carried out using a dedicated optimization model implemented by mixed integer programming. The authors’ next research projects will focus on optimizing capital expenditures and operating costs using the Levelized Cost of Electricity and Levelized Cost of Hydrogen methodologies.