A Bidding-Based Peer-to-Peer Energy Transaction Model Considering the Green Energy Preference in Virtual Energy Community

The depletion of existing resources and environmental problems led to an increase in distributed energy resources (DERs) and the accordingly emergence of the prosumer. This change has created an issue of power system operations and the coordinating entities of distribution networks. Besides, environmental concerns and the global policy of supporting renewable energy resources has given some electricity consumers a better perception and a willingness to pay (WTP) for green energy at a higher cost. This article presents a bidding-based peer-to-peer (P2P) energy transaction optimization model that considers these green energy preferences based on prosumer and consumer's intention. The objective of the model, which deals with energy transactions between prosumers and consumers within the virtual energy community, is to minimize community operating costs taking into account the depreciation costs of energy storage units while maximizing the social welfare for encouraging the energy trading among consumers and prosumers. The weighted social-welfare terms in the objective function provides diverse community operations reflecting the goal of the energy trading operator (community operator). Case studies were conducted according to the presence and absence of energy transactions and energy storages and the green energy preference. Results of the case study showed that the benefits of prosumers and community have occurred in energy transactions and CO2 emission is reduced according to green energy preference.