Participation of active consumers in the electricity system: Design choices for consumer governance

• Published in: Energy strategy reviews 2022-11, Vol.44, p.100992, Article 100992
• Main Authors: Pelka, S., Chappin, E.J.L., Klobasa, M., de Vries, L.J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Demand response; Distributed energy resources; Energy community; Energy market design; Local energy market; Variable tariff; Virtual power plant
• ISSN: 2211-467X; 2211-467X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.esr.2022.100992

Household electricity use has an increasing impact on the overall energy system. Numerous proposals have been made to support households to consume electricity in a system-friendlier manner. By breaking these proposals down into functions and how they are performed, this paper identifies four distinctive governance designs: energy communities, variable electricity tariffs, local energy markets and virtual power plants. None covers all the functions required and each addresses different trade-offs that households face. Energy communities focus on investing in energy assets, while the others target the operation of households’ assets, including demand response. Virtual power plants attract profit-oriented consumers, while the others primarily target normative consumers. •A holistic review of governance designs to integrate consumers to the electricity system.•We identified eight organizational functions required for consumer integration.•Based on the functions, we grouped the literature into four main governance designs.•None of the governance designs performs all the required functions.•The governance designs target different key trade-offs facing consumers.