Wooden biomass generators to increase the sustainability of energy communities in cold climates

In light of the current evident necessity to shift toward a more sustainable and rational production and use of energy, recent energy policies, are pushing toward new concepts of energy schemes and systems. The EU introduced the concept of energy communities in 2019 through the Clean Energy for All Europeans package. Energy communities organise collective and citizen-driven energy actions that help pave the way for a clean energy transition. Energy communities offer a means to re-structure the current energy systems by harnessing energy and allowing citizens to participate actively in the energy transition. In this work, a local energy community in a small mountain town in South Italy is proposed and assessed. In order to increase the sustainability of energy production, a centralized heat combustion engine, supplied by syngas generated by local wooden biomass, is proposed to provide electrical and heating needs for a stock of public buildings that define the energy community. Thanks to data collected at public institutions and on-site inspections, the electric energy and thermal requirements of the considered buildings have been accurately assessed. Simulations have been then conducted in TRNSYS environment with the aim to evaluate the performance of the proposed system and compare it with more traditional solutions such as condensing boilers. An economic analysis was finally conducted to evaluate the convenience of the energy community and assess the actual benefits of its application in a real-case scenario.