TY - JOUR

T1 - Becoming prosumer

T2 - Revealing trading preferences and decision-making strategies in peer-to-peer energy communities

AU - Hahnel, Ulf J.J.

AU - Herberz, Mario

AU - Pena-Bello, Alejandro

AU - Parra, David

AU - Brosch, Tobias

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

PY - 2020/2

Y1 - 2020/2

N2 - Increasing distributed renewable energy generation renders balancing of energy supply and demand more challenging. Peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange of decentrally generated energy is a promising means to optimize renewable energy flows. While previous research has primarily focused on the technological and economic benefits of P2P energy trading, little research has investigated customer preferences in this context so far. It is thus still unclear to what extent private actors such as homeowners are actually willing to participate in P2P energy communities and if so, under which conditions. Here, we address this research gap by analyzing homeowners' trading decisions in simulated P2P electricity trading scenarios. Findings based on a sample of 301 German homeowners show that community electricity prices and state of charge of private energy storages are key determinants of homeowners’ trading behavior. We moreover identified four target groups that systematically differed in their decision-making strategies ranging from price-focused prosumers (38.9%) to classic non-trading consumers (22.6%). Our findings provide promising insights for the design of P2P communities and allow policy makers to more accurately predict risks and benefits associated with P2P projects. Finally, our findings contribute to the development of tailored policy instruments aiming to increase P2P trading in decentralized energy communities.

AB - Increasing distributed renewable energy generation renders balancing of energy supply and demand more challenging. Peer-to-peer (P2P) exchange of decentrally generated energy is a promising means to optimize renewable energy flows. While previous research has primarily focused on the technological and economic benefits of P2P energy trading, little research has investigated customer preferences in this context so far. It is thus still unclear to what extent private actors such as homeowners are actually willing to participate in P2P energy communities and if so, under which conditions. Here, we address this research gap by analyzing homeowners' trading decisions in simulated P2P electricity trading scenarios. Findings based on a sample of 301 German homeowners show that community electricity prices and state of charge of private energy storages are key determinants of homeowners’ trading behavior. We moreover identified four target groups that systematically differed in their decision-making strategies ranging from price-focused prosumers (38.9%) to classic non-trading consumers (22.6%). Our findings provide promising insights for the design of P2P communities and allow policy makers to more accurately predict risks and benefits associated with P2P projects. Finally, our findings contribute to the development of tailored policy instruments aiming to increase P2P trading in decentralized energy communities.

KW - Decentralized energy systems

KW - Decision-making

KW - Energy communities

KW - Energy storage systems

KW - Energy trading

KW - Microgrids

KW - Peer-to-peer

KW - Psychology

KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075352866&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111098

DO - 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111098

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85075352866

VL - 137

JO - Energy Policy

JF - Energy Policy

SN - 0301-4215

M1 - 111098

ER -