The need to limit climate change has led to policies that aim for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Often, a trade-off exists between reducing emissions and associated costs. In this paper, a multi-objective optimization framework is proposed to determine this trade-off when operating a Community Energy Storage (CES) system in a neighbourhood with high shares of photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation capacity. The Pareto frontier of costs and emissions objectives is established when the CES system would operate on the day-ahead spot market. The emission profile is constructed based on the marginal emissions. Results show that costs and emissions can simultaneously be decreased for a range of solutions compared to reference scenarios with no battery or a battery only focused on increasing self-consumption, for very attractive CO2 abatement costs and without hampering self-consumption of PV-generated electricity. Results are robust for battery degradation, whereas battery efficiency is found to be an important determining factor for simultaneously decreasing costs and emissions. The operational schedules are tested against violating transformer, line and voltage limits through a load flow analysis. The proposed framework can be extended to employ a wide range of objectives and / or location-specific circumstances.

Currently, there is a deep discussion going on among the power system society about the architecture of the future system. In practice, the smart grid concept is expected to be applied in various different forms and there will be a need for significant investments in both existing and new infrastructures. In this drastically evolving environment, policy makers and electric utilities are finding themselves in challenging positions to plan and prioritize methodologies and initiatives for future developments. Among others, decentralized power generation is gaining significance in liberalized electricity markets, and small size electricity consumers become also producers (prosumers). The scope of this paper is to map those factors (and their interactions) that influence the load profile, and provide a methodology for modeling the behavior of electricity prosumers. Simulations provide a time and cost effective way to vision the future power system and promote the most efficient solutions. The importance of including the behavior of a large amount of small size prosumers in power system simulations will be outlined, and this concept will be illustrated through an example of modeling car drivers' behavior in order to assess the grid impact of electric vehicles charging in Dutch residential areas.

The increasing adoption of renewable energy sources necessitates efficient energy storage solutions, with buildings emerging as critical nodes in residential energy systems. This review synthesizes state-of-the-art research on the role of batteries in residential settings, emphasizing their diverse applications, such as energy storage for photovoltaic systems, peak shaving, load shifting, demand response, and backup power. Distinct from prior review studies, our work provides a structured framework categorizing battery applications, spanning individual use, shared systems, and energy communities, and examines modeling techniques like State of Charge estimation and degradation analysis. Highlighting the integration of batteries with renewable infrastructures, we explore multi-objective optimization strategies and hierarchical decomposition methods for effective battery utilization. The findings underscore that advanced battery management systems and technological innovations are aimed at extending battery life and enhancing efficiency. Finally, we identify critical knowledge gaps and propose directions for future research, with a focus on scaling battery applications to meet operational, economic, and environmental objectives. By bridging theoretical insights with practical applications, this review contributes to advancing the understanding and optimization of residential energy storage systems within the energy transition.

In this research, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction potentials of electric vehicles, heat pumps, photovoltaic (PV) systems and batteries were determined in eight different countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Also, the difference between using prosuming electricity as a community (i.e., energy sharing) and prosuming it as an individual household was calculated. Results show that all investigated technologies have substantial GHG emission reduction potential. A strong moderating factor is the existing electricity generation mix of a country: the GHG emission reduction potential is highest in countries that currently have high hourly emission factors. GHG emission reduction potentials are highest in southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy) and lowest in countries with a high share of nuclear energy (Belgium, France). Hence, from a European GHG emission reduction perspective, it has most impact to install PV in countries that currently have a fossil-fueled electricity mix and/or have high solar irradiation. Lastly, we have seen that energy sharing leads to an increased GHG emission reduction potential in all countries, because it leads to higher PV capacities.