Examinando por Autor "Kapassa, Evgenia"

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    Blockchain application in P2P energy markets: social and legal aspects
    (Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2022-03-08) Borges Hernández, Cruz E. ; Kapassa, Evgenia ; Touloupou, Marios ; Legarda Macon, Jon ; Casado Mansilla, Diego
    Flexible and distributed energy markets are a reality that is progressively reaching many regions. Despite their clear benefits, they should be accepted by the prosumers. Additionally, blockchain technology and smart contracts have been characterised as a technological enabler for the energy sector and P2P Energy Markets (PEM). However, little research has been done to explore blockchain's user-centred perspective. Therefore, this paper analyses the reluctance and/or concerns of prosumers regarding smart contracts, and investigates their perception on blockchain within PEMs. The authors present the results of a survey conducted across several European countries addressing the implementation of automated trading systems and analysing the adoption of smart contracts. Considering that the main survey outcomes are related to the regulation and legislation uncertainty around blockchain usage, this paper explores also the fit of smart contracts from a legal perspective. Additionally, a set of recommendations to be used as the basis for the design and development of PEMs is delivered, aiming to adopt blockchain and smart contracts. As a key take-away, the authors confirm the crucial role that blockchain will play in the deployment of fair, secure, flexible and distributed energy markets by ensuring transparency in the exchange of information between prosumers and energy stakeholders.
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    Ítem
    Overcoming barriers for the adoption of local energy and flexibility markets: a user-centric and hybrid model
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2021-07-16) Pressmair, Guntram; Kapassa, Evgenia ; Casado Mansilla, Diego ; Borges Hernández, Cruz E. ; Themistocleous, Marinos
    To achieve the European climate targets and the Paris Agreements, at least 65% of the electricity needs to be generated from renewable energy sources by 2030. This requires a significant increase of distributed energy resources, posing a challenge for distribution system operators to integrate them into existing hierarchical grids. The concept of Local Flexibility Markets has recently gained attention as a market-based tool to tackle this challenge, making use of demand side flexibility. In this paper a Delphi method has been performed, showing that there are still numerous barriers in place preventing a widespread adoption of such markets in Europe. The main obstacles for market participants refer to standardisation issues. Based on that, a hybrid market model has been developed, comprising elements of a Local Flexibility Market and a Local Energy Market. To activate demand side flexibility from local energy transactions, spatio-temporally varying price signals are introduced, reflecting the constraints of the distribution grid. The paper shows, that this novel market approach helps to overcome relevant standardisation issues, but also certain barriers regarding end-users’ lifestyles, which is because prices are comprehensible signals that can motivate end-users to participate. Moreover, a set of numerical examples is provided to illustrate the monetary benefits that could be gained by consumers and prosumers in the proposed hybrid market model. The examples show that the major share of the cost savings result from local energy trading, but the hybrid market model is also able to accumulate additional smaller revenues from providing flexibility. Finally, the systematic approach of characterising the market model in this paper offers a valuable framework for other researchers to map their ideas among existing approaches of Local Energy and Flexibility Markets.