The Potentials of Energy Communities in Supporting Renewable Integration to the Distribution Grid

In this paper, the Authors suggest possible operation modes of energy communities that support the distribution grid and increase its renewable generation hosting capacity by reducing voltage problems and thus inverter curtailments. We investigate P(U), Q(U) controls, DSM and storage controls, as well as their combination, from the point of view of their potential in eliminating excessive voltages problems, thereby giving the opportunity to increase PV capacity. It is assumed that these operation modes are implemented in the context of energy communities instead of addressing individual customers. This setup is promising since the benefits are more apparent at feeder level than for each customer individually.