Towards the Decarbonization of Industrial Districts through Renewable Energy Communities: Techno-Economic Feasibility of an Italian Case Study

In Europe, the recast of Directive 2018/2001 defined Renewable Energy Communities as innovative configurations for renewable energy sharing between different end user types. In this regard, this work aims to assess the benefits following the constitution of a Renewable Energy Community in the industrial area of Benevento (South of Italy), involving a mixed-use building and an industrial wastewater treatment plant. The alternative single end users' configuration has been also examined, and both solutions have been compared with the current state where the users' electric energy requests are fully met by the power grid. The users have been equipped with a 466 kW(p) photovoltaic plant, modelled in HOMER Pro (R), providing in input experimental meteorological data (global solar radiation and air temperature) collected by one of the weather control units in Benevento. Real data about users' electric energy demand have been gathered from their electricity bills, and when unavailable their electric load profiles on an hourly basis have been reconstructed based on the aggregated monthly data. Energy sharing has been proven to increase energy self-consumption and the users' self-sufficiency. Annually, the primary energy demand is reduced by 577 MWh (1.2 MWh/kW(p)), carbon dioxide emissions by 84 tCO(2) and operative costs by 101 kEUR.

Automated summary

This study aims to assess the benefits of establishing a Renewable Energy Community in the industrial area of Benevento, involving a mixed-use building and an industrial wastewater treatment plant in southern Italy. The alternative configuration of individual end users was also examined and compared with the current state where electric energy demands are met by the power grid. The results show that energy sharing increases self-consumption and self-sufficiency, reducing primary energy demand by 577 MWh annually (1.2 MWh/kW(p)), carbon dioxide emissions by 84 tCO(2), and operational costs by 101 kEUR.