Sustainable Technologies and Developments for Future Energy Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Recent paradigm shifts have posed grand challenges to energy systems and have significantly changed their structures, operation and management. One of such major challenges is an urgent call for the decarbonization of energy systems, leading to extensive efforts towards the massive integration of renewable energy sources, the electrification of related infrastructures and industry sectors, and so on. The high-level penetration of renewables naturally introduces a great deal of intermittency and uncertainties that may compromise the reliable operation of the power grids. Another challenge is the structure of energy systems, which have been becoming increasingly complex with their intensified interdependency with other critical infrastructures, such as communication, transportation, gas systems, and the unprecedented level of integration of non-traditional components, including intermittent renewable resources, electric vehicles, electronic-based devices, and information data centers. Economic feasibility is also a bottleneck for implementing many interesting and promising technologies in realistic energy systems. Above all, the recent COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly altered human living and working conditions, and upturned globalization and worldwide urbanization. The pandemic creates a new normal for society and economics, as well as energy demands and supply patterns. Energy system planning and management therefore need to consider such pandemic-induced changes.

At the same time, many innovative technologies and systems have been developed for tackling those challenges and deriving clean, efficient, smart, and resilient energy systems. Examples include artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), smart devices and services, distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), etc., to name a few. Therefore, to cope with the aforementioned environmental, societal, and economic challenges of energy systems, while exploring the opportunities of recent advances in science and technology, this Special Issue aims to serve as a platform for energy researchers to present their recent works that contribute to deriving sustainable future energy systems. Both theoretical and practical research on technologies, analysis, and designs, which address the sustainability, complexity, efficiency, and resiliency of future energy systems, are welcome. Special attention will be given to studies on emerging technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technologies, etc., for solving emergent challenges on the cybersecurity and resilience of energy systems under cyberattacks and natural disasters, which have not been accounted for in other Special Issues.

Prof. Dr. Dinh Hoa Nguyen
Prof. Dr. Hung Dinh Nguyen
Prof. Dr. Javad Khazaei
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. 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.