Open AccessHidden cross‐subsidies of net energy metering practice: energy distribution losses reallocation due to prosumers’ and storsumers’ integration
Author(s) -
Nikolaidis Alexandros I.,
Charalambous Charalambos A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
iet generation, transmission and distribution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.92
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1751-8695
pISSN - 1751-8687
DOI - 10.1049/iet-gtd.2016.1473
Subject(s) - net metering , subsidy , metering mode , environmental economics , grid , business , work (physics) , energy consumption , scope (computer science) , consumption (sociology) , computer science , distributed generation , economics , renewable energy , engineering , electrical engineering , mathematics , mechanical engineering , geometry , market economy , programming language , social science , sociology
This study evidently discloses a hidden cross‐subsidy that is embedded in the traditional net energy metering (NEM) practice with regard to how energy distribution losses are reallocated when NEM customers (i.e. prosumers and storsumers) are integrated at the distribution level. This cross‐subsidy springs from the fact that the NEM customers receive a one‐for‐one credit for the energy they export to the grid against their time‐diversified energy consumption that is imported from the grid. Even though such practices are appealing due to their relatively simple form, it is shown that this one‐for‐one credit exchange may entail additional losses‐related costs to the ones recovered from NEM customers through their net billing processes. Subsequently, a different net billing scheme is examined, bearing in mind the limitations of the existing metering infrastructure at the distribution level, in order to assess the effect of alternative practices on this hidden cross‐subsidy. Both practices are applied on a real system that benefits from prosumers and storsumers. For the scope of this work, the authors label storsumers as retail grid‐connected customers that exhibit increased energy controllability over their net demand profiles, owing to the pairing of their photovoltaic systems with energy storage devices.