Sustainable Integration of Renewable Power Generation Systems

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, sustainable development has been one of the main objectives in the global agenda, across geographical and economic boundaries. Energy plays a decisive role in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as employment growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure,  sustainable cities and communities, clean energy, and climate change.

At the global level, the energy sector is responsible for more than two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions and 80% of CO₂. Alongside lower future demand for energy in the heating and cooling sector, a shift to increased demand for electricity due to household electrical appliances, and electrification in heating and transport are expected. In order to reduce anthropogenic emissions and complete the decarbonisation of the global economy, achieving climate neutrality in the second half of the century, effective actions should involve energy production, storage, transmission, distribution, and usage, with the support of efficient technologies, management models, the integration of clean and renewable sources, the integration of different utility grids and users currently not considered in energy demand and supply, such as water distribution, electric transport, innovative power to chemicals and power to fuel technologies and integration of power generation with district heating networks. An increasing share of demand load covered by distributed generation and non-programmable renewable sources is expected, resulting in the reliability and quality of energy supplied, reduced environmental impact, lower transmission and distribution losses, and better seasonal balancing of the load profile.

The Special Issue focuses on the Sustainable Integration of Renewable Power Generation Systems, to gather knowlodge on innovation, research, and demonstration activities and results in energy conservation, conversion, renewable technology penetration and improved energy efficiency, in order to be an overall framework for scientists, researchers, policy and decision makers. They may include different territorial scales (country, city, district, single building unit), cross-cutting technologies, energy-related products and services, the identification of parties and roles (producers, users, aggregators, etc.), as well as energy, environmental, social and economic impacts of sustainable integration strategies.

Authors are encouraged to submit contributions on methods, tools, applications and practices on the following topics:

• energy (co)generation, storage, transmission, distribution, and usage: strategies, applications and implications of energy efficiency;
• renewable energy sources, as biomass, solar, wind, and geothermal: technologies, distributed or centralized (poly)generation plants; integrated management of energy vectors;
• energy processes, systems and services: modeling, analysis and optimization;
• distributed generation: infrastructures; supply-side/demand-side management; integration strageties; hybrid systems for generation and storage;
• integration of renewable energy with different utilization grids: transport, water distribution, heat/cooling district heating, power to gas and power to fuel technologies;
• green chemicals from renewable energy;
• efficient energy networks: neutral and low temperature district heating; integration of renewable sources, heat recovery, and high-efficiency generation plants; prosumer engagement tools;
• multi-target optimisation models;
• integration of thermal and electrical energy storages;
• smart mini grid, energy community, and collective self-consumption from renewable systems;
• energy transition of non-interconnected areas;
• power-to-heat/-cool and power-to-heat-to-power strategies for grid balancing;
• financing support schemes;
• impact assessment and mitigation of environmental pollutants.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Sustainability.

Dr. Paolo Sdringola
Prof. Dr. Umberto Desideri
Guest Editors

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