Course description
The European Union has introduced policies through directives to promote renewable energy. These aim to address challenges like reducing CO2 emissions, decreasing energy dependence, and alleviating energy poverty. This has also led to the concept of energy sharing which is a collective approach to energy management.
In Wallonia, a region of Belgium, two main energy-sharing solutions exist. One involves peer-to-peer electricity exchange through a retailer’s platform, where participants must be customers of the same retailer. The other uses the legal framework of energy communities, whose members can trade energy among themselves while maintaining their contracts with their respective electricity retailers.
This lesson aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of energy sharing, starting with an exploration of the mechanisms underlying electricity markets. The course is organized along the following parts:
- Overview of the energy sector and key EU energy policies;
- Introduction to the mechanisms of electricity markets;
- Incentives for renewable energy development in Belgium (Wallonia);
- Breakdown of a residential electricity bill and the impact of self-production;
- Analysis of peer-to-peer electricity exchange through a retailer’s platform;
- Analysis of the framework of energy communities and their different models.
Teaching materiel
The teaching materiel is available on ORBI, the institutional repository of the ULiège, through the following link: https://hdl.handle.net/2268/325398
Damien Ernst 