Introduction

The deployment of Energy Communities can help to increase the provision of sustainable energy from renewable energy sources at urban, industrial, and commercial levels, granting benefits to all the community members. Their effective integration in the form of microgrids (and nanogrids) will undoubtedly help to decarbonize the energy sector and, at the same time, increase energy resiliency. The main purpose of this book is to provide a systematic framework for the calculation of the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOEn) for Energy Communities proposing a general formulation and its application to three representative real case studies. To the authors' knowledge, the existing literature does not address this issue yet. This book is intended for researchers, academics and postgraduate students in energy engineering and economics, promoters of energy projects, policymakers and, in general, for anyone interested in energy sustainability and renewable energy integration. In this chapter, we present the context and the aim of the book, its organization and a brief biographical sketch of the authors.`