Coordination of commercial prosumers with distributed demand-side flexibility in energy sharing and management system

Driven by advances in smart grid technologies, building prosumers have closer interaction in sharing energy and information towards net-zero energy communities with energy flexibility and smart readiness. Many studies have focused on transactive energy systems, whereas limited attention was paid to coordinated prosumer management involving electric and electro-thermal energy storages. In this paper, a hierarchical energy management system was developed for a commercial neighbourhood, where distributed prosumers can share their generation and batteries, and manage cooling loads and thermal storages, in subtropical Hong Kong. Several operational scenarios were formulated considering building-level and neighbourhood-level controls, to explore the synergies through peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing and demand flexibility. Techno-economic-environmental impacts were analysed comprehensively from the perspectives of the network, the utility, and each participant. Results show that by integrating the demand-side flexibility, the P2P system could use electricity more effectively and economically. The formulated P2P operation strategy utilising neighbourhood-level control minimised the operational cost by 24.6% and net equivalent CO2 emission by 7.1%, compared to the traditional peer-to-grid operation. The profit for each participant can be allocated by regulating the compensating price in the dynamic internal trading. The study provides prosumers energy-flexible and grid-friendly operation to facilitate the sustainability of the smart grid.