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Renewable Energy and Power System Transformation: Striving Towards Carbon Neutrality

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 3439

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Electrical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China
Interests: integrated energy system and power system optimization with renewable energy generation; reliability and risk analysis

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Guest Editor
School of Electrical and Power Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Interests: smart grids; integrated energy system; power system planning and operation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to worldwide targets for carbon emission reduction and carbon neutrality, power systems around the world are undergoing significant changes. The increasing integration of low-cost variable renewable energy (VRE), the deployment of distributed energy resources (DER), and growing opportunities for electrification have been witnessed in the process of power system transformation.

However, as the penetration ratio of renewable energy continues to grow, the characteristics of randomness, variability, weak inertia, and damping have posed great challenges to power planning, operation, and control. There is an urgent need to provide efficient, safe, and diverse technological choices for the construction of net-zero power and energy systems.

Numerous technologies and methods have been developed in this area in recent years. Therefore, this Special Issue provides a platform to strengthen interdisciplinary research and share the dynamics, cutting-edge research, and practice for renewable energy and power system transformation within the scope of sustainability.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • The mechanisms for the further proliferation and integration of renewable energy resources including wind, solar, and so on.
  • The operation, planning, and economics of decarbonization pathways in reaching net-zero targets in electrical power and integrated energy systems.
  • Reliability evaluation and risk analysis of power and integrated energy systems considering climate shocks and natural disasters.
  • Electrical power and energy system solutions for the decarbonization of transportation (road, rail, maritime, air, intermodal, and pipeline), industrial, and real estate sectors.
  • System-level solutions and analysis of integrating carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies.
  • The mechanisms and solutions for carbon markets, virtual power plants, and transactive energy and their role in addressing climate change issues in electrical power and integrated energy systems.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Changzheng Shao
Dr. Yizhou Zhou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

Keywords

  • renewable energy
  • power system
  • integrated energy system

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 2798 KiB  
Article
A Cloud Model-Based Optimal Combined Weighting Framework for the Comprehensive Reliability Evaluation of Power Systems with High Penetration of Renewable Energies
by Bin Zhang, Longxun Xu, Hongchun Shu, Shanxue Gao, Mengdie Li, Zun Ma, Junkai Liang and Kewei Xu
Sustainability 2025, 17(5), 2273; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052273 - 5 Mar 2025
Viewed by 640
Abstract
Reliability has long been a critical attribute of power systems that cannot be ignored. Numerous blackout events have highlighted the increasing risk of outages in power systems due to the prominence of high-proportion power electronics and renewable energy utilization. Traditional reliability assessment methods, [...] Read more.
Reliability has long been a critical attribute of power systems that cannot be ignored. Numerous blackout events have highlighted the increasing risk of outages in power systems due to the prominence of high-proportion power electronics and renewable energy utilization. Traditional reliability assessment methods, which typically take dozens of hours to assess the adequacy of steady-state conditions, cannot reflect the real-time reliability performance of the system. Moreover, the weakness identification methods can only quantify the impact of component outages while ignoring other important operational factors. To address these issues, this paper constructs a three-hierarchy reliability evaluation index system (REIS) for power systems, consisting of the comprehensive reliability evaluation index (CREI) as the top hierarchy, four primary indices in the middle, and lots of subjective and objective indices on the bottom. To quantify the performance of different calculation methods for these indices, a combined weighting framework is proposed. Finally, the REIS level is evaluated according to the Wasserstein distances between the CREI cloud model and standard cloud models. In the case study, the proposed method is verified through its application to the power grids of two cities in a province in southern China, demonstrating its practicality and effectiveness. Full article
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20 pages, 6221 KiB  
Article
Optimal Scheduling of Networked Microgrids Considering the Temporal Equilibrium Allocation of Annual Carbon Emission Allowance
by Chengling Hu, Hao Bai, Wei Li, Kaigui Xie, Yipeng Liu, Tong Liu and Changzheng Shao
Sustainability 2024, 16(24), 10986; https://doi.org/10.3390/su162410986 - 14 Dec 2024
Viewed by 775
Abstract
The optimal scheduling of networked microgrids considering the coupled trading of energy and carbon emission allowance (CEA) has been extensively studied. Notably, the scheduling is performed on a daily basis, whereas the CEA is usually checked and determined once a year. The temporal [...] Read more.
The optimal scheduling of networked microgrids considering the coupled trading of energy and carbon emission allowance (CEA) has been extensively studied. Notably, the scheduling is performed on a daily basis, whereas the CEA is usually checked and determined once a year. The temporal mismatch between the daily scheduling and the yearly CEA should be addressed to realize the dynamic valuation of CEA. In this paper, the optimal scheduling of networked microgrids considering the temporal equilibrium allocation of annual CEA is investigated. Firstly, a CEA decomposition model is developed, which allocates allowance to individual microgrids and further decomposes them temporally using the entropy method. Secondly, a Lyapunov optimization-based low-carbon scheduling model is introduced to manage carbon emissions within each dispatch interval, ensuring annual CEA compliance and daily economic efficiency. Thirdly, a Stackelberg game-based energy–carbon coupling trading model is presented, which considers the uncertainties caused by fluctuations in external electricity and carbon prices to optimize trading prices and strategies of the microgrids. Finally, a test system is used to demonstrate the significant effects of emission reduction and the economic benefits of the proposed methods. Full article
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20 pages, 1727 KiB  
Article
Functional-Combination-Based Comprehensive Benefit Evaluation of Energy Storage Projects under Source-Grid-Load Scenarios via Super-Efficiency DEA
by Hong Qu and Ze Ye
Sustainability 2024, 16(10), 4278; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16104278 - 19 May 2024
Viewed by 1280
Abstract
As an important support for power systems with high penetration of sustainable energy, the energy storage system (ESS) has changed the traditional model of simultaneous implementation of electricity production and consumption. Its installed capacity under the source-grid-load scenario is rising year by year, [...] Read more.
As an important support for power systems with high penetration of sustainable energy, the energy storage system (ESS) has changed the traditional model of simultaneous implementation of electricity production and consumption. Its installed capacity under the source-grid-load scenario is rising year by year, contributing to sustainable development, but it faces the problems of insufficient utilization and benefits. This study analyzes the functional combination of ESS under source-grid-load scenarios. A comprehensive benefit evaluation method of energy storage projects (ESPs), based on a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA), is proposed. Firstly, the functional requirements of energy storage in source-grid-load scenarios are explored, and the characteristics of various functions are analyzed to form eight functional combination schemes. Secondly, index modeling is carried out from three aspects—the whole life cycle cost, functional combination benefits, and social and environmental benefits—and a comprehensive benefit evaluation index system of ESP is proposed. Then, the intuitionistic trapezoidal fuzzy number (ITFN) is combined with DEMATEL to form an effective analysis method for the input–output relationship of the indices, and the comprehensive evaluation is realized based on the SE-DEA model. Compared with other methods, this model can ensure the objectivity and stability of the evaluation results in ESP evaluation. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed evaluation method and the rationality of the functional combination are verified under source-grid-load scenarios. The calculation results show that in the application scenario of source-grid-load, after adopting the functional combination scheme formulated in this article, the comprehensive investment benefits of ESPs have been improved. Moreover, the source side effect is at its best, with an efficiency value of 2.209. Full article
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