Fair access for all to a low-carbon electricity Grid unlocked by Artificial Intelligence – FairGrid-AI

Clean, small-scale distributed energy resources (DER) (e.g., solar panels, energy storage, electric vehicles, etc.), that use or produce low-carbon emissions electricity, are expected to play a paramount role in helping society on the path towards carbon neutrality. Recent research shows inequitable distributions of small-scale DER created by the existing energy policy and market rules in certain regions where the energy transition took an early start: less advantaged blocks of society see reduced access to these new resources due to unavailable grid capacity. This means that high-income households are reaping all the financial benefits of the energy transition, including tax deductions and income from the sale of surplus electricity. If certain customer blocks have reduced access to these technologies their energy security is compromised, existing inequalities will be exacerbated, and socioeconomic gaps will be widened. FairGrid-AI will develop market designs and guidelines on possible interactions between participants and the electricity network in the form of grid capacity trading. Quantifying the technical and socioeconomic interdependencies between users and the grid, this research aims at enabling a more equitable paradigm. Using existing literature, technical, demographic, and economic information at a national scale, FairGrid-AI will develop tools to aid governments, policy makers, communities, and individuals with decision making to reach carbon neutrality benefitting all portions of society. The large computational burden associated to this task will be greatly reduced leveraging artificial intelligence tools. This research contributes towards an energy sector that better shields its users from energy insecurity and price disparity/discrimination. The national utility of France will be the case study, but the work will be structured so it can be scaled to other national electricity grids.