Journal of Urban Economics and Management

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Cities, as the main centers of energy consumption and greenhouse gas producers, need to transition from traditional centralized networks to decentralized and resilient systems in the face of climate challenges and pressure on natural resources. This research aims to analyze the economics of renewable energy at the neighborhood scale to achieve urban self-sufficiency and provide an integrated theoretical framework. The research method is a systematic and analytical review of domestic and international literature. The findings show that achieving sustainable self-sufficiency at the neighborhood scale depends on the convergence of three fundamental elements: first, technical and sectoral integration, including the use of storage technologies (battery and thermal) and load flexibility to increase the rate of self-sufficiency and self-consumption; second, the establishment of local market mechanisms based on peer-to-peer (P2P) trading and the role of smart aggregators for economic optimization and reducing net costs; and third, participatory governance and fair distribution of benefits to ensure social acceptance and energy justice. Accordingly, the “Resilient and Equitable Neighborhood Energy Hub” (RA-NLEH) framework is proposed, which combines multi-carrier infrastructure, digital market platform, cooperative legal structure, and multi-dimensional evaluation indicators to provide a comprehensive solution for transforming neighborhoods into active energy units. The results indicate that the combined “P2P trading + storage” models can generate up to 59% cost savings and increase the self-consumption rate to more than 50%. This research emphasizes that neighborhood self-sufficiency is more than a technical achievement, a socio-economic project that requires targeted policymaking, legal transparency, and stakeholder participation to realize low-carbon and resilient cities.

Keywords: Renewable energy, urban self-sufficiency, energy storage, participatory governance, local energy economy.

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