Cross-border Energy Communities on a Distribution Grid Level

This paper develops an approach to investigate the technical and economic benefits of a local cross-border energy community at the German-Dutch border. A cross-border connection of two regions on a medium voltage level is modeled. The underlying model is formulated as a Mixed Integer Problem. It comprises the electricity loads of two cities, their respective renewable electricity generation plants, a battery storage and an electrolyzer. Our research assumes that a promising approach to connect the cities is by a switchable "cross-border element" which represents a virtual power plant that includes a German and a Dutch wind farm located on either side of the border. The single wind turbines can be connected to either the German or the Dutch electricity distribution grid per quarter hour interval via a switch. The German and the Dutch electricity grids are never interconnected directly. In a simple scenario with constant load and additional renewable investments, connecting the two regions via the cross-border element would lead to a 34 % reduction of the annual electricity system cost caused the region. This is the starting point for the development of legal concepts to enable and realize international cross-border medium voltage electricity transfers.