The project focuses on the development and testing of a grid-sensitive coordination system for energy communities. Market mechanisms and automated trading strategies are used to control the flexible consumption and generation units of the community members in such a way that they make the best possible use of existing distribution networks and support the network operator in avoiding and eliminating congestion situations.

Through coordination within the community, the power adjustment of the members takes place according to demand. In this way, the expected need for network expansion can be reduced without unduly restricting the behavior of individual network users. The interfaces to the network operator required for this are examined, as is the required number and location of community members in a network strand. The detailed determination of the added value that can actually be provided to the system by communities makes it possible to counteract a desolidarization in the participation in network costs.

The contributions of this sub-project to the further development of the state of the art and its implementation in practice are aimed at the following areas:

• Development of the coordination mechanism based on mechanism design theory.
• Development of algorithmically supported, self-learning trading strategies for participation in the mechanism
• Robustness of the system by resolving conflicting goals and avoiding “surge” of the system
• Testing of the developed components in simulation, laboratory, and field with dedicated feedback loops between these activities
• Detailed quantification of system benefits to support the design of modified grid usage charges while avoiding desolidarization