Energy optimization of a grid-connected village under the Dutch local energy community context

The town of Daarle is energetically optimized in this research by adopting demand-side solutions and renewable technologies. Additionally, it is studied under the context of Local Energy Communities. Three types of demand-side solutions are chosen: upgrading the efficiency of household's appliances, adjusting daily habits and installing an EV charging point. Results show that by adopting these measures 49 % of total electricity in the town can be saved while relieving some capacity in the local grid. Besides, charging EVs is preferable to do it at daylight in the working place. Subsequently, a PV park is designed to improve the environmental performance of the community. In this manner, the capacity is designed to reach a total production of 2.135 MWh per year while covering 57 % of the total yearly electricity consumption of the village. To conclude a profitability analysis is carried out to evaluate these previous measures. To this end, revenues from the PV plant are calculated so that afterwards they can be invested in more demand-side solutions; this way, the performance of the village is constantly optimized. Results indicate an NPV greater than zero and a Pay-back of 7 years; thus, making the plant profitable.