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This paper considers the case study of a smart microgrid district at Graciosa Island in the Canary Islands. The smart energy microgrid district consists of several households and a public use building (school) that includes renewable energy sources (photovoltaic), Li-ion batteries for electric energy storage, domestic hot water heaters acting as thermal energy storage, a pool for balancing energy consumption and supplies, and the connection to the electric grid. We have modelled such a problem as a nonlinear mathematical programming model that is linearly approximated using special ordered sets of type 2. The linear approximation is solved using Gurobi optimization software, providing close-to-optimum solutions within an interval of 15 min that allows near-real-time operation of the smart energy district. The obtained results allow advancement of the net-zero energy neighbourhood concept in all the evaluated scenarios within a daily horizon and a positive energy balance in wider horizons. Obviously, these results are obtained in part due to the magnificent insolation conditions of the Canary Islands, but they allow justifying that the appropriate use of renewable energy resources and energy storage systems together with a balancing mechanism at the district level (such as the pool in our case study) may also lead to near-net-zero energy neighbourhoods in other geographical locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]