Novel Cybersecurity Issues in Smart Energy Communities

The Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001/EU) of the European Union proposes a legal framework for the development of renewable energy sources and citizen participation in the energy transition through two new instruments: collective self-consumption schemes (CSCs) and renewable energy communities (RECs). Energy Communities are rapidly evolving, increasingly employing information and communication technologies to properly monitor and control distributed energy resources. In this scenario, it is fundamental to evaluate cybersecurity risks from the beginning, to allow researchers to develop “secure-by-design” systems and platforms. This work analyzed common architectures and protocols commonly used to build Smart Energy Communities, evaluating the attack surfaces and possible vulnerabilities. This work also discusses some solutions which can be employed to mitigate the risk, and highlights current gaps in the state of the art.