Energy management based on coalitionnal game subdivision applied to energy communities

Abstract

The energy transition requires rethinking how we produce and consume energy. Energy communities (EC) provide a recent legal framework for sharing energy, aiming to reduce energy bills and the environmental footprint of their participants. One of the challenges is adapting economic models to this technological upheaval. In this context, cooperative games, based on game theory, are valuable tools for modeling energy management through cooperation. However, despite their promising characteristics, cooperative games are limited by their computational complexity. The required computation time to solve cooperative games increases exponentially with the number of participants, restricting their application in energy management. This paper aims to propose a solution to apply cooperative game theory tools to larger communities using a multidisciplinary approach. For this purpose, a game subdivision approach based on the specific properties of energy communities is proposed. This methodology will be shown to be efficient in terms of computation time. While the game theory concepts are depreciated by limiting computing time, the sub-games method can become an interesting tool in energy management. Advantages and drawbacks in terms of energy management and game theory are discussed in this paper.