Review on Causes of Power Outages and Their Occurrence: Mitigation Strategies

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 3)

Authors resubmitted the manuscript after the incorporation of reviewer comments. still major issues are remaining which must be addressed before further processing of the paper. 

1. authors should incorporate the detailed mathematical modelling of the techniques discussed in the table 3 and table 4. it will provide a clear idea to reader about the operation of that technique.  

2. Authors should discuss techniques such as PSO, FLA etc in separate section with their implementation algorithm for outage mitigation problem. 

3.  In table 3, authors must incorporate and discuss more recent references of the year 2021, 2022 and 2023. 

4. in figure 5 authors must provide the color coding to understand meaning of different colors. 

5. improve the quality of figures for better understanding. 

Major revision

Author Response

Reviewer comment 1:

1. Authors should incorporate the detailed mathematical modeling of the techniques discussed in the table 3 and table 4. it will provide a clear idea to reader about the operation of that technique.  

Author response:

Thanks for the reviewer of such a comment. Actually, in the several past days, we were hardly working on this comment. The mathematical models are greater than to be incorporated into a table. Each algorithm includes a sequence of formulas and it's very difficult to involved in the table. However, we will consider it as a recommended area and future work.  

The following paragraph has been added to the conclusion section:

“Future work to expand the review of such a field of study can be conducted by incorporating the detailed mathematical modeling of the techniques discussed in Table 3 and Table 4, which will provide a clear idea to the reader about the operation of those techniques.”

Reviewer comment 2:

2. Authors should discuss techniques such as PSO, FLA etc in separate section with their implementation algorithm for outage mitigation problem. 

Author response:

Thanks to the reviewer for such a comment. The new version of the manuscript updated to include a discussion of such techniques in (Section 5.2. Utility energy policies), where a discussion and comparison table has been updated accordingly.

Reviewer comment 3:

3. In table 3, authors must incorporate and discuss more recent references of the year 2021, 2022 and 2023. 

Author response:

We are agreeing with the reviewer's comments. More recent references for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023 have been added to the new version of the manuscript.

Reviewer comment 4:

4. In figure 5 authors must provide the color coding to understand meaning of different colors. 

Author response:

Thanks to the reviewer for this valuable comment. More explanation has been added regarding this figure to understand the meaning of different colors. The horizontal color coding in this figure indicates that the countries with lighter colors refer to a lower rate of monthly power outages, while the darker ones refer to the countries that hardly suffer from monthly power outages.

Reviewer comment 5:

5. Improve the quality of figures for better understanding. 

Author response:

In the new version of the manuscript, all the figures have been revised by improving their quality accordingly.

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

I really appreciate the authors' comprehensive review of the literature on “causes of power outages”. They have effectively synthesized a vast amount of research, providing a valuable resource for researchers in the field. Moreover, there is a need to incorporate few points as given below:

1.     In title: if possible, kindly rearrange the title as “Iraq is a case study” may not be appropriate. Make it more generic and meaningful to the readers.

2.     List out the all possible causes of power outages and its causes for occurrence and % amount/frequency of occurrence.

3.     List out the possible solution/ idea to overcome the possible “different type of power outages”

4.     To strengthen the paper, I suggest the authors consider including a subsection on the limitations of the reviewed studies. Additionally, it would be helpful to discuss the implications of these limitations on the broader conclusions drawn in the review.    

5.     Kindly include a few statistics related to reviewed articles like how many article from which digital library and no. of articles are published yearly basis etc.

6.     In summary, this review paper presents a valuable synthesis of the existing literature, but it would benefit from addressing certain limitations and providing more in-depth discussions. With the suggested improvements, this work has the potential to significantly contribute to our understanding of “causes of power outages”.

English is good

Author Response

I really appreciate the authors' comprehensive review of the literature on “causes of power outages”. They have effectively synthesized a vast amount of research, providing a valuable resource for researchers in the field. Moreover, there is a need to incorporate few points as given below:

Reviewer comment 3:

1. In title: if possible, kindly rearrange the title as “Iraq is a case study” may not be appropriate. Make it more generic and meaningful to the readers.

Author response:

Thank you for the reviewer regarding this comment. The title has been revised accordingly

Reviewer comment 2:

2. List out the all possible causes of power outages and its causes for occurrence and % amount/frequency of occurrence.

Author response:

Thanks for the author in this regard. The causes of power outages were classified and represented with a diagram showing the reason and corresponding related references in Figure 2. However, the frequency of occurrence percentage depends on the location and the country. USA for example, the major causes of power outages are due to weather conditions such that 59% from storms and severe weather, 18% from cold weather and ice storms, 18% from hurricanes and tropical storms, 3% from tornadoes, and 2% from extreme heat and wildfires.

The new version of the manuscript has been updated accordingly.

Reviewer comment 3:

3. List out the possible solution/ idea to overcome the possible “different type of power outages”

Author response:

We are agreed with the reviewer’s comment. Section 4 discussed the possible solutions to overcome or mitigate different types of power outages. The limits of the solution and the scope of its effectiveness can be significantly influenced by utilities' tactics for reducing power outages. Such strategies ought to be comprehensive, covering every aspect of mitigation, from prompt discovery and effective restoration to ongoing public outreach. For minimizing power outages, this section discussed in detail the primarily two energy management solutions, demand-side and generation-side energy management.

We have updated the new version of the manuscript accordingly.

Reviewer comment 4:

4. To strengthen the paper, I suggest the authors consider including a subsection on the limitations of the reviewed studies. Additionally, it would be helpful to discuss the implications of these limitations on the broader conclusions drawn in the review.    

Author response:

Thanks for the reviewer for this valuable comment. The new version of the manuscript considers including a subsection on the limitations of the reviewed studies accordingly.

Reviewer comment 5:

5. Kindly include a few statistics related to reviewed articles like how many article from which digital library and no. of articles are published yearly basis etc.

Author response:

We are agreed with this valuable comment. An additional subsection, 5.5. Statistics for the reviewed publications have been added for statistics accordingly.

Reviewer comment 6:

6. In summary, this review paper presents a valuable synthesis of the existing literature, but it would benefit from addressing certain limitations and providing more in-depth discussions. With the suggested improvements, this work has the potential to significantly contribute to our understanding of “causes of power outages”.

Author response:

Thanks to the respected reviewer for his positive comments. We have updated the new version of the manuscript so as to provide more in-depth discussions to significantly contribute to the understanding of “causes of power outages”.

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Dear Authors,

Judging from the text I received for review, this is the text after some revisions. I cannot comment on the previous remarks, however, for my part, I would like to note that the article lacks analysis of key aspects in the field of energy security. In this regard, I have made the following comments:
1) In the analysis of the safety and reliability of power systems, there are relevant indicators that describe the frequency and length of power outages (SAIDI, SAIFI, MAIFI). I did not find any information about these indicators in this review. In addition, there are indicators that describe the reliability of the operation of the power system, such as LOLP, LOLE, EENS, which show, for example, the number of hours in which generation does not cover demand. Blackouts due to weather conditions are just one aspect. If the authors believe that the problem is the growth of energy demand, then the first thing to consider is why system generation is not growing proportionally.
2) Another issue is the question of economic losses due to non-delivery of power. There are indicators such as VoLL and VoLA and WTP/WTA that describe the economic consequences for consumers, mainly showing how much a consumer is able to pay for electricity. These aspects need to be developed necessarily. This is a subject that is commonly described in the literature, hence I don't understand why the information about it is missing.

3) What is the point of introducing such low-level information as in Section 4.2? The authors try to mention something about IoT solutions, instead of starting the analysis with the structure of the energy mix, analyzing the availability of sources that generate electricity. IoT is not a cure-all for all the problems of this world. There is no information about the generation structure, which unfortunately does not reflect the real situation of the power sector, yet the lack of available power is the first reason why blackouts occur. I have the impression that the authors do not fully understand how the power system works. There is a complete lack of information about the cost of generating electricity in sources of various types, conventional or RES. A thorough analysis of how the generation side can affect blackouts is missing. It should be noted that even with sufficient power available to the System Operator, there are necessities to reduce it if only by weather conditions.
4) Mentioning Matlab simulations for forecasting or flexible generation control without analysis of generation potential is simply pointless. The authors need to go back to basics and start the analysis by compiling the energy balance in terms of the power available to the Operator. Further review of techniques for dealing with temporary unavailability or improving grid operation without basic analysis makes no sense.
5) Since this is a Review article, why is the proposed method of solving the problem introduced? It means that the article should be classified as a "research article." Here again, there is no complete description of the methodology, algorithms and no indication of the novelty of the proposed solution.

Regarding the English language and editing side of the article:
1) It is not entirely clear why some abbreviations were introduced, even though they are not always used.
2) The bibliography next to two items should be written as [1-2] [1,2] and not [1] [2].
3) The article is difficult to read. Throughout the text, it is unclear what message it is supposed to deliver.

Author Response

Thanks to the respected reviewer for his positive comments. We have updated the new version of the manuscript so as to satisfy the reviewer's comments. please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 3)

Authors tried to incorporate comments raised by the review but still some comments are remaining which should be incorporated. 

1. improve the quality of figure 5. moreover, kindly provide the nomenclature to the highlighted part of the map. 

2. check the formatting of the table 3. 

3. Make uniform formatting for all the tables.

Minor revision 

Author Response

III. Reviewer 1:
Authors tried to incorporate comments raised by the review but still some comments are remaining which should be incorporated.

1. improve the quality of figure 5. moreover, kindly provide the nomenclature to the highlighted part of the map.

The quality of figure 5 has been improved with providing the nomenclature to the highlighted part of the map. The new version of the manuscript has been revised accordingly.


2. check the formatting of the table 3.

The new version of the manuscript has been revised accordingly.


3. Make uniform formatting for all the tables.

The new version of the manuscript has been revised accordingly.

IV. Moderate editing of English language required.

The new version of the manuscript has been revised in terms of English language editing accordingly.

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Dear Authors,

The revised version of the article does indeed bring improvements in the area of description of reliability indicators. Admittedly, the LOLE indicator was described in a rather strange way, which in my opinion deserves a separate subsection. Further, however, I am unable to understand the idea of the article. The authors point out that the literature does not address topics related to the actions/strategies that grid operators can implement to minimize the effects of power outages on the generation side (lines 70-75). It is common to use ancillary services to provide strategic reserve (Germany, Sweden) or in much of Europe - capacity mechanisms (e.g. UK, France, Italy, Poland). In addition, each transmission system operator develops procedures on how to deal with constraints - demand reduction is one of the later steps, not to mention rolling blackouts. I don't understand why information is introduced about microgrids, which, yes, are under development, but the basis of operation of most land-based countries is the classic electric power system. Each of them has a corresponding power generation structure, consisting of fossil fuel sources, nuclear power (if any) and renewable energy sources. Each of these sources and their share in the energy mix is relevant if we talk about the need for energy management constraints. As far as I have observed, the authors have not made such an analysis. They have not indicated the de-rating factors. There are also methodologies for calculating the so-called adequacy of power systems. The authors in Chapter 5, instead of describing the structure of power generation in Iraq, focus on obvious information on fuzzy logic and PSO algorithms. The question is what impact do they have on energy management strategies when the reader has no information on how energy is produced? The sentence: "Since 2015 (+8%/year), it had been quickly rising till 2020. 73% of the nation's total energy usage in 2021 come from oil; the remaining 24% come from gas and 3% come from hydropower" can be replaced with a clear graph, give values in MW and called Total capacity generation in Iraq. What is the ratio of peak demand to net dispatchable capacity? What is the energy balance? Have simulations of power system operating scenarios in Iraq ever been done for multiple types of operating points? What is meant by one source generation? Is 100% of the energy in Iraq produced from one type of source? Are fringe services such as frequency regulation in operation at all? The sentences described in lines 806-811 relate to the normal congestion management policies of the Transmission System Operators. This is not new at all.
In my opinion, and I will emphasize it again, the authors need to seriously rethink the vision of this article. I personally do not understand it, and I no longer know whether it is supposed to be about systems to mitigate the occurrence of blackouts, or to describe the reliability of power systems. If so, what is missing here are analyses of the probabilities of failure of given equipment/generating units - based on two-state models.
Even in the conclusions, the authors contradict themselves, so to speak: "the relation between the causes of power outages in Iraq is that the over-demand of electricity enforces the national utility company to apply rolling/planned power outages The study found that the main reasons to implement the rolling power outages policy are not the over-demand exactly but many other causes such as: [...]". The article in this form cannot be published, as it lacks consistency with the goal set in the line 78-79.

The article still has a lot of grammar errors, that should be corrected with native speaker.

Author Response

Academic Editor Notes

Dear authors,

I. Although the revision of the article is significant, please explain, especially in the Introduction part, details related to the following comments, in order to be able to correctly frame the work in the global concerns of the field addressed:

"The revised version of the article does indeed bring improvements in the area of description of reliability indicators. Admittedly, the LOLE indicator was described in a rather strange way, which in my opinion deserves a separate subsection.

Author response

Thanks for such valuable comment. The following amendments have been conducted in the new version of the manuscript:

Power system planners often analyze future energy demand and then carry out a series of calculations to predict how much and what kind of generation will be required at one or more future dates because constructing and building a power plant is a time-consuming procedure. The use of a resource adequacy measure, often based on loss of load probability (LOLP) or a related metric, is a widespread strategy, despite some variations in approach. A target reliability level is used to assess if resource adequacy will be attained. The industry standard LOLE level is 1 day every 10 years.

The peak hour was used to calculate LOLP historically once each day. The estimate uses a direct convolution of the capacity of each generator and the rate of forced outages. The likelihood is thus determined directly. The formula to obtain LOLE can be given by:

where P represents the probability function, K is the number of days in a year, C_i is the amount of capacity that is available thanks to the convolution process, and L_i is the daily peak demand.

Further, however, I am unable to understand the idea of the article. The authors point out that the literature does not address topics related to the actions/strategies that grid operators can implement to minimize the effects of power outages on the generation side (lines 70-75).

Author response

The authors understand the valuable points raised by the editor. The following amendments have been conducted in the new version of the manuscript:

The majority of studies concentrated on customer/demand-side management strategies. Only several articles have discussed alternative programs for avoiding or mitigating power outages that the utility grids impose to cover the lack of power generation. These studies, like [1]–[5] discussed multi agent energy generation network or their control algorithm for energy optimization [6]–[10]. However, there were no generation-side EM-based work has been done when the power plant uses one type of energy source (such as natural gas or petroleum in Iraq).

 It is common to use ancillary services to provide strategic reserve (Germany, Sweden) or in much of Europe - capacity mechanisms (e.g. UK, France, Italy, Poland). In addition, each transmission system operator develops procedures on how to deal with constraints - demand reduction is one of the later steps, not to mention rolling blackouts. I don't understand why information is introduced about microgrids, which, yes, are under development, but the basis of operation of most land-based countries is the classic electric power system. Each of them has a corresponding power generation structure, consisting of fossil fuel sources, nuclear power (if any) and renewable energy sources. Each of these sources and their share in the energy mix is relevant if we talk about the need for energy management constraints. As far as I have observed, the authors have not made such an analysis. They have not indicated the de-rating factors. There are also methodologies for calculating the so-called adequacy of power systems.

Author response

The authors understand the valuable points raised by the editor. The study here discusses and reviews various energy management methodologies being used in developing nations facing power outages to be able to recommend suitable ones according to the country's situation focusing on Iraq's conditions. In such conditions, it is extremely hard to implement demand-side EM and generation-side has been offered instead, especially when the power plant uses one type of energy source (such as natural gas or petroleum). However, the revised version of the manuscript has been improved as we can consider these points in account.

The authors in Chapter 5, instead of describing the structure of power generation in Iraq, focus on obvious information on fuzzy logic and PSO algorithms. The question is what impact do they have on energy management strategies when the reader has no information on how energy is produced?

Author response

The authors understand the valuable points raised by the editor. The new version of the abstract has been revised according to this comment.

The sentence: "Since 2015 (+8%/year), it had been quickly rising till 2020. 73% of the nation's total energy usage in 2021 come from oil; the remaining 24% come from gas and 3% come from hydropower" can be replaced with a clear graph, give values in MW and called Total capacity generation in Iraq. What is the ratio of peak demand to net dispatchable capacity? What is the energy balance? Have simulations of power system operating scenarios in Iraq ever been done for multiple types of operating points? What is meant by one source generation? Is 100% of the energy in Iraq produced from one type of source?

Author response

Thanks for such valuable comment. The following amendments have been conducted in the new version of the manuscript:

Iraq was the fourth-largest energy user in the Middle East in 2021, after Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, consuming an estimated quadrillion British thermal units of total primary energy [11]. The majority of Iraq's main energy consumption was made up of natural gas and oil, with hydropower and solar energy making only a little contribution (see Figure 7 (a)). Up till it builds new pipeline infrastructure and natural gas processing capacity, Iraq will continue to mostly rely on oil to meet demand. A plot of Iraqi electricity supply by source according to US Energy Information Adminstration [12] is shown in Figure 7 (b).

(a)                                                             (b)

Fiugre 7. Iraqi electricity supply (a) by total primary energy consumption in 2021, and (b) by source according to US Energy Information Adminstration.

According to the report of Middle East Institute, the installed capacity of 30 Gigawatts (GW) cannot satisfy summer peak demand as of 2023 and numerous users employ rooftop solar panels or small generators due to faulty grid and institutional issues [13], where power outages, both planned and unforeseen, were frequent [14]. The balance between generation and demand is as follows:

• Daily Average Output: 4,470 MW
• Daily Electricity Demand: 6,400 MW
• 6,900–7,800 MW, or 36–45% of the summer peak demand, cannot currently be satisfied.

Since 2010, Iraq's net energy generation has increased by an average of nearly 7% annually, reaching a total of more than 93 terawatt-hours (TWh) (see Figure 8).

Figure 8. The net generation and distribution losses of Iraq since 2000.

Iraq generates almost all (almost 95%) of its electricity from oil and natural gas[11]. The International Energy Agency claims that as a result of Iraq starting to import natural gas from Iran to supplement its own supply, the utilization of natural gas in the electric power sector climbed from 25% in 2016 to around 60% in 2020. The majority of the remaining part of power production is produced through hydroelectricity [15]. Iraq wants to develop renewable energy projects to replace part of its oil and natural gas-fired capacity and to cut back on natural gas and electricity imports from Iran, even though solar generating made up a small portion of the country's overall power generation. Iraq has inked contracts with various foreign businesses to create 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar projects in 2021, and the country intends to install 12 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 [16].

For 2021, the federal government of Iraq had a peak power generation capacity of 21 GW. In comparison to the installed capacity of 37 GW and the 33 GW required to meet peak summer demand, the supply that was available in 2021 was significantly less. The highest period for electricity use in Iraq is during the summer. Because of inadequate natural gas supply and infrastructure, inefficient or damaged power plants, poor transmission infrastructure, and low utilization rates of generation units, the available or effective production capacity is substantially lower than installed capacity. Typically, peak summer demand exceeds actual production, leading to power shortages that, in the summers of 2020, 2021, and 2022, provoked protests in southern Iraq and Baghdad [17].

Iraq's distribution losses are still a problem. In comparison to a global average of 8% throughout this time period, distribution losses from 2011 to 2020 averaged 58% of the total electricity supply. Large rates of electricity theft, grid inefficiencies, and subpar system design all contribute to large distribution losses [11].

Iraq is seeking for methods to diversify the sources of electricity it imports. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Jordan are some of the sources being considered. Iraq and the GCC reached a definitive deal under which Iraq will begin receiving 500 MW of electricity from Kuwait starting in the middle of 2024. The project's maximum capacity, if implemented, will be 1.8 GW [18].

Are fringe services such as frequency regulation in operation at all? The sentences described in lines 806-811 relate to the normal congestion management policies of the Transmission System Operators. This is not new at all."

Author response

Thanks for such valuable comment. Yes, this is related to the normal congestion management policies of the Transmission System Operators, which might be not a new strategy as a demand-side EM, but according to the conditions discussed for Iraq, it will be an effective one when it is imposed by the grid utility as a generation-side solution to mitigate the rolling power blackout.

This modification has been conducted in the new version of the manuscript.

1. 
   Explain the following details in the article - to make it easier for reviewers to understand:
   "In my opinion, and I will emphasize it again, the authors need to seriously rethink the vision of this article. I personally do not understand it, and I no longer know whether it is supposed to be about systems to mitigate the occurrence of blackouts, or to describe the reliability of power systems. If so, what is missing here are analyses of the probabilities of failure of given equipment/generating units - based on two-state models.

Thanks to the editor for highlighting this point.

As stated in the title, the main aim of this article is to review the causes of power outages and their occurrence mitigation strategies. Actually, we've added some parts discussing the reliability of power systems to satisfy several reviewer comments that might related to the generation side EM strategies. However, if the editor sees that these additional discussions would disperse the reader we can omit it.

Even in the conclusions, the authors contradict themselves, so to speak: "the relation between the causes of power outages in Iraq is that the over-demand of electricity enforces the national utility company to apply rolling/planned power outages The study found that the main reasons to implement the rolling power outages policy are not the over-demand exactly but many other causes such as: [...]". The article in this form cannot be published, as it lacks consistency with the goal set in the line 78-79."

Author response

The authors agree with the editor of this wrong explanation for the causes of power outages in Iraq. we modified this discussion part to the following:

The study found that the main causes for imposing the rolling power outage policy by the national utility company are not the over-demand exactly but many other causes such as 1) Bypassing or hacking of the national power grid, 2) Significant population expansion, 3) The expansion of consumer appliances, especially air conditioners, and 4) Corruption and incompetence have slowed advancement in expanding capacity and reconstructing, whilst demand has persisted to climb fast.
This modification has been conducted in the new version of the manuscript.

References

[1]      J. Yu, C. Dou, and X. Li, “MAS-Based Energy Management Strategies for a Hybrid Energy Generation System,” IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., 2016, doi: 10.1109/TIE.2016.2524411.

[2]      R. Yang, Y. Yuan, R. Ying, B. Shen, and T. Long, “A novel energy management strategy for a ship’s hybrid solar energy generation system using a particle swarm optimization algorithm,” Energies, 2020, doi: 10.3390/en13061380.

[3]      T. Teng, X. Zhang, H. Dong, and Q. Xue, “A comprehensive review of energy management optimization strategies for fuel cell passenger vehicle,” Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.12.202.

[4]      D. Arcos-Aviles, J. Pascual, F. Guinjoan, L. Marroyo, P. Sanchis, and M. P. Marietta, “Low complexity energy management strategy for grid profile smoothing of a residential grid-connected microgrid using generation and demand forecasting,” Appl. Energy, 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.07.123.

[5]      M. Patrone and D. Feroldi, “Passivity-based control design for a grid-connected hybrid generation system integrated with the energy management strategy,” J. Process Control, 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.jprocont.2017.11.012.

[6]      A. Angeloudis, S. C. Kramer, A. Avdis, and M. D. Piggott, “Optimising tidal range power plant operation,” Appl. Energy, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.12.052.

[7]      A. K. Bansal, “Sizing and forecasting techniques in photovoltaic-wind based hybrid renewable energy system: A review,” Journal of Cleaner Production. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133376.

[8]      N. K. Jena, S. Sahoo, B. K. Sahu, J. Ranjan Nayak, and K. B. Mohanty, “Fuzzy adaptive selfish herd optimization based optimal sliding mode controller for frequency stability enhancement of a microgrid,” Eng. Sci. Technol. an Int. J., 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.jestch.2021.10.003.

[9]      G. Magdy, G. Shabib, A. A. Elbaset, and Y. Mitani, “Optimized coordinated control of LFC and SMES to enhance frequency stability of a real multi-source power system considering high renewable energy penetration,” Prot. Control Mod. Power Syst., 2018, doi: 10.1186/s41601-018-0112-2.

[10]    A. H. Sabry, W. Z. Wan Hasan, M. Zainal, M. Amran, and S. B. Shafie, “Alternative Solar-Battery Charge Controller to Improve System Efficiency,” Appl. Mech. Mater., 2015, doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.785.156.

[11]    “Statistical Review of World Energy | Energy economics | Home.” https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy.html (accessed Sep. 15, 2023).

[12]    “Electricity sector in Iraq - Wikipedia.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Iraq (accessed Sep. 15, 2023).

[13]    “Iraq needs renewables, but they won’t solve its power problems without broader reforms | Middle East Institute.” https://www.mei.edu/publications/iraq-needs-renewables-they-wont-solve-its-power-problems-without-broader-reforms (accessed Sep. 15, 2023).

[14]    “UNDG Iraq Trust Fund.” https://mptf.undp.org/fund/itf00 (accessed Sep. 15, 2023).

[15]    “World Energy Outlook 2022 – Analysis - IEA.” https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2022 (accessed Sep. 15, 2023).

[16]    “Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Signs Up For 1GW Solar In Iraq | MEES.” https://www.mees.com/2021/10/8/corporate/abu-dhabis-masdar-signs-up-for-1gw-solar-in-iraq/0dfe37d0-282f-11ec-a09c-db0536a900e5 (accessed Sep. 15, 2023).

[17]    “Heatwaves scorch Iraq as protracted political crisis grinds on | News | Al Jazeera.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/6/heatwaves-scorch-iraq-as-protracted-political-crisis-grinds-on (accessed Sep. 15, 2023).

[18]    “Iraq-GCC Power Link Set For 2024, While Saudi Talks Adva...” https://www.mees.com/2022/7/22/power-water/iraq-gcc-power-link-set-for-2024-while-saudi-talks-advance/f63f1380-09af-11ed-ba8f-c3cdbd9848c6 (accessed Sep. 15, 2023).

Round 3

Reviewer 3 Report (New Reviewer)

Dear  Authors,

The revised version is much better and I would like to thank you for considering the comments. Please take note and correct the following:
1) Figure 7 is between pages. I think it is better to move it to another place.
2) Line 708 if we are talking about electricity consumption then MWh should be there
3) Please read the text carefully once again with a native speaker.

Please read the text carefully once again with a native speaker.

Author Response

Thank you very much for such efforts and comments. we have considered all the respected reviewer comments:
1) Figure 7 has been revised accordingly.
2) The units of electricity consumption on the appointed location are corrected in the revised versoin of the manuscript.
3) The new version of the manuscript has been revised cearrfully in terms of English grammer to meet the journal requirements.
We hope that the new version of the manuscript satisfied by the respected reviewer. 

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This paper provides information about distributing electricity in developing countries. The major focus of this essay is to compare and analyze the various energy management techniques employed in these nations. Although this work could provide valuable and interesting information for readers of this journal, some following concerns must be addressed:

1.       There are redundancies in the manuscripts, and I suggest summarizing and reducing the length of the article.

2.       The resolutions of the figures must be improved.

3.       The authors need to prove the information in Figure 4 and Figure 7 by references.

4.       In line 157, Some missing parameters of the actuator must be defined and given.

Reviewer 2 Report

1) the motivation section is too long and does not show the ultimate decision for conducting review on energy management strategies such as if there was lack on stating the strategies in overall researches or was it mentioned from one aspect and ignoring the others. 

2) what is the use of grid topologies in the paper? it should been placed to the topologies of microgrids or distributed energy system which energy management strategies will be applied. 

3) the structure of review paper does not align with the paper's abstract. from the abstract it was understood that the paper's priority was to state energy management strategies first then used Iraq electrical system as case study. while the other way around was mentioned in the structure of paper, changing the main contribution of the paper.  

4) the authors stated "To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first review to widely cover power outage causes that some countries suffer from, including power transmission and distribution technical reasons, natural weather conditions, power plant faults, accidents, over-demand, and bypassing/hacking the power national grid." this sentence causes confusion since the main paper and the papers that have been adopted are focused on distribution level. why focusing on transmission level or the power national grid? it is either be elaborated or rewritten. 

5) Also, one of the paper's contribution is "This paper covers the most advanced and recent progresses to overcome the planned power outages of the power grid. Therefore, it presents readers with state-of-art strategies". again it contradicts with paper's abstract that should be focusing on energy management strategies. 

6) since the authors have used Iraq Electrical network as their study case they should be focussing on the main reasons of the power outage in Iraq, what is the purpose of Figure 2 in similar countries ? does Iraq suffers from the same reasons as well ? 

7) do not see the relation of Table 1 to the current presented work 

8) section 2 overall, do not see how it is relevant 

9) where is the consequences of power outages in Iraq, if this section was to be remained in the paper after being redemonstrated. 

10) the authors are using generation side energy management but they did not mention what are the actions made by this technique. only what is mentioned are its benefits. a lot of literature is required for this part especially when it is the core method that has been used. also, justifications are to be provided explaining the reason of using such method.

11) too much unnecessary information in section 4. 

12) the methodology of the paper and the contributions are neither clear nor consistent. in section 4.2, reliability and stability are dependent studies. the technique that has been used in the paper, address another problem (controlling distributed energy resources and monitoring them) from which the paper stated in abstract ( energy management strategies) 

the paper was hard to comprehend, it needs proofreading. 

Reviewer 3 Report

This manuscript presented the review on causes of power outages and their occurrence mitigation strategies in Iraq perspective. Major issues are associated with the manuscript, which must be addressed before further processing of the manuscript. 

1. Abstract can be written in more comprehensive manner. Abstract must be in standard form

2. A more detailed and critical literature review discussion is required for all the categories with their detailed pros and cons.

3. Along with the pros and cons of the different techniques, authors can also be incorporated the various applications as well as case study areas where the different techniques are implemented, based on theoretical and practical applications.

4. Conclusion must be based on the reviewed literature.

5. A more detailed section related to the utility policy changes also required.

6. There are various outage mitigation techniques other then demand side energy management and generation side energy management. Authors must incorporate those techniques and related literature.

7. Detailed mathematical modelling related to the mitigation techniques must be incorporated for better understanding of techniques. 

8. Techniques discussed in the tabular form must discuss in individual manner with their detailed descriptions and mathematical modelling.  

9.  More recent references are required to make this review more comprehensive and complete. 

Minor revision required for the English improvement 

Reviewer 4 Report

The following comments are provided regarding the manuscript:

1.      Please correct spelling and wording throughout the manuscript, as there are instances of misspelled words, confusing ideas, and unclear wording.

2.      Lines 64-66: The statement regarding the increase from 46% to 58% is unclear. Please provide a better explanation.

3.      Figure 1: The text of the transformers is not adequately shown, and the representative image of the generation is watermarked.

4.      Figure 2: When discussing the main causes of power outages in Iraq, please consider including human factors such as political problems, terrorism, and lack of energy that are not considered as "errors."

5.      Line 231: Please clarify the meaning of this sentence, and provide the unit of measurement for the classification of firm size levels mentioned in lines 231 and 232.

6.      Figure 5: As this is a screenshot of a web page, it is recommended to treat the information externally and cite the source.

7.      Introduction: The authors mention that section 2 describes rolling blackouts in Iraq as a case study, but this information is not clearly presented, and the reasons for these blackouts are not discussed in depth.

8.      Section 3: While discussing Energy Management as a solution, the section does not show the causes of power outages.

9.      Section 3.2: Generation-side EM is addressed in a very incomplete manner, as it does not present previous work in this area. Demand-Side EM was addressed well, but the bibliographic search on Generation-Side was very brief.

10.   Please include relevant information on the current state of power generation in Iraq, installed power, and types of generation technologies.

11.   The authors mention four main reasons for power outages in Iraq, but these assertions should be supported by studies or official information.

12.   While the article promised to be interesting and provide a solution to the problem, it ended up being unclear and lacked an adequate literature review to find solutions. The section where the contribution should be presented does not provide an adequate analysis of the problem or its solutions, as it only mentions general strategies widely used in energy management. Additionally, the way the authors present the strategies is not adequate, as it is an image with pure text and bad formatting.

Please correct spelling and wording throughout the manuscript, as there are instances of misspelled words, confusing ideas, and unclear wording.