Community microgrids: Peer-to-peer energy sharing and the role of game theory

Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading within community microgrids has emerged as a promising paradigm to enhance distributed renewable integration, economic efficiency, and prosumer participation. However, the decentralised and multi-agent nature of P2P networks introduces complex strategic interactions among heterogeneous participants. This paper presents a structured and critically synthesised review of the role of game theory in modelling and analysing P2P energy sharing systems. A transparent literature identification process was adopted, drawing from major scientific databases and applying defined inclusion and quality assessment criteria to minimise bias. The review first establishes the technical and architectural foundations of microgrids and P2P trading platforms. It then provides a targeted discussion of game-theoretic concepts and explicitly maps equilibrium frameworks, including Nash, Stackelberg, cooperative coalition, Bayesian, and stochastic games, to operational challenges in P2P energy markets. Unlike purely descriptive surveys, this study critically compares modelling assumptions, information structures, equilibrium implementability, scalability constraints and reported quantitative outcomes across 9 major application domains, including cost reduction, demand-generation balancing, pricing design, uncertainty management, voltage constraints, cybersecurity and system resilience. Reported findings indicate measurable economic benefits, such as 2–5% seller profit improvements and 4–18% consumer cost reductions under game-theoretic pricing frameworks, although practical deployment challenges remain. Finally, the paper identifies key research gaps, including bounded rationality modelling, risk-aware stochastic market design, blockchain–game integration scalability, regulatory harmonisation and large-scale interoperability. By positioning game theory as a unifying analytical layer across economic, technical and behavioural dimensions, this review provides both conceptual clarity and a forward-looking research roadmap for advancing P2P microgrid energy trading.