Community Microgrid Systems: Economic Resilience and Challenges Ahead

This paper investigates the economic adoption of microgrids, focusing especially on community-scale systems. Feasibility analysis results in the case study countries Portugal and Japan, as well as sensitivity analyses to various grades of change in demand factors such as customer mix, demand characteristics, and the uncertainty of end-use demand, are presented. The results show that the characteristics of the demand are at the heart of microgrids financial attractiveness. High values of HPR and HEC unlock energy efficiency opportunities linked to CHP, while high load factors allow DG to more appropriately run within their operational constraints. Also, generally, community microgrids form more attractive investments than single microgrids, and can be specifically designed for optimal financial performances. Single microgrids are sensitive to demand oscillations, while community microgrids are more resilient, taking various levels of variability while still running economically. Finally, an overview of legal and regulatory challenges that community microgrids face and that emerged as learnings from this research is also introduced.