Bent Richter

Topic:

A central component of the energy transition is the increasing decentralization of power generation. For example, there is a progressing rise of PV systems on the roofs of many households, companies and also public buildings, also local combined heat and power plants, or biogas plants supply communities with local heat and electricity. The biggest challenge is the coordination and integration of these small, decentralized generation plants into today's energy system. The scientific community discusses local energy markets as a promising approach. These markets are designed to incentivize local coordination of supply and demand through price signals, thereby relieving higher levels of the grid and allowing local, green-generated electricity to be consumed locally. In addition, smaller, local suppliers (e.g., households with PV systems) are given an opportunity to sell surplus electricity, unbureaucratically and locally.

Goal:

Research on local energy markets is broad and has grown rapidly in recent years. From the initial concept, many innovative solutions have differentiated, targeting e. g. not only electricity but also the coordination of local heat or flexibility.  Likewise, first field tests have been conducted to verify the behavior of the participants and also the efficiency of the market mechanisms. Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to process and classify the existing literature and to develop an overview of the current state of research. Thereby, the literature search is less in the focus, but the classification and identification of different research directions, as well as key areas within the research field. A larger body of literature is provided for this thesis to build upon.

Example Literature:

Mengelkamp, Esther, Julius Diesing, and Christof Weinhardt. "Tracing local energy markets: A literature review." it-Information Technology 61.2-3 (2019): 101-110.