Modeling and Intelligent Control for Microgrids and Smart Grids

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Energies (MDPI), “Modeling and Intelligent Control for Microgrids and Smart Grids.”

The ongoing evolution of microgrids (MGs) and smart grids (SGs) aims to transform the traditional paradigm of energy management into a sustainable, flexible, and resilient power system. Future power networks are expected to effectively integrate increasing energy demand, fully exploit renewable sources, promote distributed generation near the point of use, enable efficient energy dispatching, and leverage energy storage systems and advanced smart energy services. In such scenarios, all network nodes progressively become active agents interacting through heterogeneous communication channels. Designing appropriate multi-layer control architectures requires a deep understanding of both power system dynamics and communication infrastructure characteristics. The increasing availability of data and computational resources fosters the integration of data-driven methods, neural models, and learning-based control techniques into modern MG and SG architectures. From the perspective of the current development and application level, it is clear that there are many opportunities to explore and challenges to resolve.

This Special Issue aims to gather and disseminate the latest achievements in the theory, modelling, and applications of MGs and SGs. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Novel topologies of power electronic converters for DC and AC microgrid applications.
• Innovative protection and circuit breaker schemes for MGs and SGs.
• Advanced methods for MG and SG parameter identification and system modelling.
• Stability analysis methods for MG and SG dynamics.
• Decentralized and distributed control algorithms for primary, secondary, and tertiary control layers.
• Decentralized observers and estimation schemes for state reconstruction in microgrids and smart grids.
• Neural-based models for the identification, prediction, and emulation of microgrid behaviour.
• Learning-based methods (e.g., reinforcement learning, deep learning) for system estimation and control in MG and SG energy management systems and demand-side management strategies with optimization for efficient microgrid and smart grid operation.
• Advanced energy services and their impact on system behaviour.
• Devices and control methods for power quality enhancement in MGs and SGs.
• Advanced protection and control strategies for specific operating conditions (e.g., black start, anti-islanding, fault scenarios).
• Plug-in services (e.g., vehicle-to-grid), their stability implications, and related control strategies.
• The characterization and modelling of communication channels and protocols for MGs and SGs (PLC, 5G, 6G, Ethernet). 

Dr. Alessandro Pilloni
Dr. Stevan U. Grabić
Dr. Marko Vekić
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• microgrids
• smart grids
• modeling and simulation
• stability analysis
• advanced control algorithms
• distributed control
• decentralized control
• plug-in services
• vehicle-to-grid (V2G)
• power quality, identification, and optimization
• energy management
• demand-side management
• communication protocol characterization
• communication channels modeling
• power electronic converters
• renewable energy integration
• protection schemes
• fault diagnosis
• state estimation
• learning-based method
• neural network models