Crash course 8: Energy Management Systems for energy communities

In a community-based Virtual Power Plant (cVPP), energy communities can manage their energy production and consumption collectively and smartly, creating a win-win situation for both the community and its members, as well as the grid operators.

This crash course elaborates on the technological core of a cVPP: the smart Energy Management System (EMS). The EMS coordinates and schedules the operations of distributed renewable energy sources (e.g. solar panels and wind turbines) and flexible assets (e.g. batteries, electric vehicles and heat pumps) in a smart way, such that they can form one single entity together: the cVPP. Being for and by the communities, the EMS allows to fulfill the community’s energy objectives and perform activities in the electricity system related not only to consumption and generation but also to managing, trading and supplying electricity.

In this course, you will be able to find information about the technological architecture of an EMS and tips on how to successfully implement an EMS with regards to the development of a cVPP.

The crash course is the the eighth module of a series of crash courses created by the cVPP project. The other available modules are:

• Crash course 1: What is a cVPP?
• Crash course 2: History of our energy system
• Crash course 3: EU energy policy
• Crash course 4: Energy flexibility
• Crash course 5: Energy market roles
• Crash course 6: Community engagement in practice
• Crash course 7: Community participation in the European electricity markets