Economic benefits redistribution methodology for renewable energy communities

A large number of renewable energy communities are expected to be created in the near future, and, also in view of the funding that has been allocated in the various national climate and energy plans, there will be interest in their development from entities with different needs belonging to the institutional, industrial, commercial, and tertiary sectors. Given the possibility that these entities will be participated in by a variety of parties (individuals, SMEs, local governments, etc.) and in view of the particular "ethical nature" of RECs, it is to be expected that the remuneration of members will be in accordance with a principle of equity and in proportion to the ability to generate income for the community itself. For these reasons, a categorization of members according to their characteristics as renewable energy producers, prosumers or mere consumers is necessary. In this context, this article, with reference to an example case related to current legislation in Italy, proposes a model for the distribution of benefits related to energy production and sharing within the renewable energy community. These benefits concern those of the energy produced and simultaneously shared/absorbed by the members of the energy community as well as those related to the valorization of the energy fed into the grid, in excess of the consumption of the users of the energy community itself. The results obtained by applying the proposed methodology for the redistribution of the economic benefits accrued by the community among its participants show the usefulness of this distribution model in quantitative and qualitative terms, according to principles of equity and proportionality.