Self-consumption and self-sufficiency in energy sharing communities in Germany: What is the impact of wind energy?

Germany is currently developing a legal framework for energy sharing. With energy sharing citizens are enabled to form energy sharing communities and share electricity via the public grid. Hence, besides photovoltaic (PV) also wind energy plants located in the public grid become an option for self-consumption and self-sufficiency for energy sharing communities. Using a bottom-up energy system model, this paper provides novel insights into the energy interrelationships between household electricity consumption and an energy production mix including also wind. The analysis is performed on a variety of possible energy sharing communities which differ in the wind-PV production ratio and the production-demand ratio. Moreover, due to the increasing relevance and an existing research gap a special focus is put on the impact of the electrification of heating and batteries. The results show that a mix of 75% wind and 25% photovoltaic production results in the highest levels of self-consumption and self-sufficiency. This result remains unaffected by the production-demand ratio or whether heating is electrified or batteries are installed. The results provide an unprecedented data basis and can be used for example to calculate the profitability of investments of energy sharing communities with the regulatory framework when implemented.