Energy communities (EC) are expected to have a pivotal role to reach European decarbonization targets. One of the key aspects is the regulatory framework adopted by each Member State to properly manage such new customers’ aggregation. The paper firstly provides an updated overview of the EC regulation, focusing on the current Italian legislation. Next, a novel methodology for the design and management of energy community initiatives is proposed. The procedure firstly solves a design and operation optimization problem to calculate the best size of energy assets (boiler, heat pump, photovoltaic, thermal storage) to be installed. Second, a Shapley value-based approach is exploited to distribute a part of the community’s incomes to members, based on their contribution to the overall welfare. Results demonstrate that the adopted methodology is effective in ensuring a proper cash flow for the community, while pushing its members towards energy efficient behaviors.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are considered a relevant flexible resource for supporting the balancing of a RES-penetrated power grid. Since their cost structure is characterized by very high capital costs, it is of utmost importance to ensure efficient and effective operations from a techno-economic perspective. The possibility of services (and revenues) stacking is one of the most discussed optimization solutions. The present work provides a novel approach for BESS modeling, including the stacking of two diverse ancillary services, a dedicated balancing market bidding model, and a state-of-charge management strategy. Fast frequency regulation is proposed as a power-based service, requiring large ramping capability, but asking BESS activation just for a limited amount of time. For the remainder, BESS power can be traded on balancing market (BM): energy-based services, such as tertiary regulation, could be effectively coupled with power-based, fast regulations, increasing the economic attractiveness of investments in BESS. The case of fast reserve (FR), a new high-speed frequency response service proposed by the Italian TSO in Italy, is assessed in this study. FR provision foresees a capacity-based remuneration (k€/MW/year) and requires to ensure 1000 hours per year of availability. After assessing its cost-effectiveness as a stand-alone service, a sequential multiservice strategy is proposed, where BESS provides FR for 1000 hours, while for the rest of the time it is dedicated to the provision of replacement reserve (RR). Performances of BESS are evaluated considering the reliability of the provision, its operational efficiency, and investment’s economics. Performed tests demonstrate how, within the current Italian regulatory framework, the investment’s rate of return improves thanks to the multiservice approach. In particular, while maintaining a proper reliability, the minimum acceptable remuneration from FR yearly auctions decreases by 13%; at the same time, self-dispatching of energy through BM calls reduces the need to purchase energy on day-ahead market and keeps BESS state-of-charge far from saturation regions, thus also increasing its lifetime.

This study presents a comprehensive review of renewable energy communities, focusing on key challenges concerning their implementation. In particular, it addresses the technical, regulatory, and social dimensions of community energy models, with special attention to planning and operation strategies, grid-related impacts, and energy poverty mitigation. Additionally, the study explores the varied regulatory approaches to energy community implementation across EU Member States and proposes a comparative analysis of selected countries from both theoretical and quantitative perspectives. The findings reveal highly heterogeneous regulatory approaches, resulting in significantly different economic outcomes for participants, and show a general gap in the considerations of social aspects, which could support policymakers in designing more effective incentive schemes.

In recent years, the global energy sector has seen significant transformation, particularly in Europe, with a notable increase in intermittent renewable energy integration. Italy and the European Union (EU) have been among the leaders in this transition, with renewables playing a substantial role in electricity generation as of the mid-2020s. The adoption of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) has become crucial for enhancing grid efficiency, sustainability, and reliability by addressing intermittent renewable sources. This paper investigates the feasibility and economic viability of batteries in wholesale electricity markets as per EU regulation, focusing on the dynamics of very different markets, namely the Day-Ahead Market (DAM) based on system marginal price and the Cross-Border Intra-day Market (XBID) based on continuous trading. A novel model is proposed to enhance BESS operations, leveraging price arbitrage strategies based on zonal price predictions, levelized cost of storage (LCOS), and uncertain bid acceptance in continuous trading. Machine learning and deep learning techniques are applied for price forecasting and bid acceptance prediction, respectively. This study finds that data-driven techniques outperform reference models in price forecasting and bid acceptance prediction (+7–14% accuracy). Regarding market dynamics, this study reveals higher competitiveness in the continuous market compared to the DAM, particularly with increased risk factors in bids leading to higher profits. This research provides insights into compatibility between continuous markets and BESS, showing substantial improvements in economic profitability and the correlation between risk and profits in the bidding strategy (EUR +9 M yearly revenues are obtained with strategic behavior that reduces awarded energy by 60%).