Online Coordination of BESS and Thermostatically Control Loads for Shared Energy Optimization in Energy Communities

This paper introduces a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) optimization scheme aimed at cost optimization in Energy Communities through the coordination of prosumers' Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Thermostatically Controlled Loads (TCLs). Inspired by recent guidelines from the Italian Gestore dei Mercati Energetici, we first introduce the concept of shared energy. Shared energy is defined as the minimum value, over a specified time window, between the renewable energy injected into the grid and the total energy consumed by the community. Subsequently, we formulate the coordination problem as a MILP optimization, where the degrees of freedom include the TCLs' status and the BESS's State-of-Charge. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed formulation are evaluated through numerical simulations, demonstrating the advantages of the coordinated scheme over uncoordinated ones.