Roles of Retailers in the Peer-to-Peer Electricity Market: A Single\n Retailer Perspective

Despite extensive research in the past five years and several successfully\ncompleted and on-going pilot projects, regulators are still reluctant to\nimplement peer-to-peer trading at a large-scale in today's electricity market.\nThe reason could partly be attributed to the perceived disadvantage of current\nmarket participants like retailers due to their exclusion from market\nparticipation - a fundamental property of decentralised peer-to-peer trading.\nAs a consequence, recently, there has been growing pressure from energy service\nproviders in favour of retailers' participation in peer-to-peer trading.\nHowever, the role of retailers in the peer-to-peer market is yet to be\nestablished as no existing study has challenged this fundamental circumspection\nof decentralized trading. In this context, this perspective takes the first\nstep to discuss the feasibility of retailers' involvement in the peer-to-peer\nmarket. In doing so, we identify key characteristics of retail-based and\npeer-to-peer electricity markets and discuss our viewpoint on how to\nincorporate a single retailer in a peer-to-peer market without compromising the\nfundamental decision-making characteristics of both markets. Finally, we give\nan example of a hypothetical business model to demonstrate how a retailer can\nbe a part of a peer-to-peer market with a promise of collective benefits for\nthe participants.\n