Establishing a decentralized virtual energy community

This paper analyses the concept of a decentralized virtual energy community of six rural Finnish farms by exploring their installed and planned electricity production and demand-responsive resources formed by electrical equipment. The study is based on interviews with the farms. The limitations of current legislation are also addressed. According to the respondents, many devices, like a ventilation on a poultry farm and milking on a dairy farm, support the welfare of the animals and thus cannot be adjusted. However, ancillary functions, like feed manufacturing, can be adjusted indicating the existence of demand-responsive resources. Additionally, the study found that production and consumption are timed different, promoting alternating power synergy. While establishing the decentralized virtual rural energy community is possible under current European Union legislation, it is prohibited under national Finnish legislation which requires all members of an energy community to be connected through a single connection point inside one property.