Renewable Energy Technologies and Microgrids
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 15238
Special Issue Editor
Interests: renewable energy technologies; wind turbines; solar panels; fuel cell; energy storage systems; electric and hydrogen vehicles; energy management; energy integration; microgrids; uncertainty and risk management
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Nowadays, the presence of renewable energy sources (RESs) has significantly increased in power systems around the globe. There is a wide range of motivations for this, such as the generation of clean energy, depletion of fossil fuel sources, and environmental issues that encourage the use of RESs in power systems. In addition to all these advantages, volatility is an example of drawbacks in the RESs that influence the function of the power system. As the most promising sources, wind and solar energy are often used among various type of RESs and play a crucially important role in the current power systems. The concept of microgrids (MGs) is developed with the ambition of accommodating RESs and reducing their disadvantages. In this regard, an MG is a combination of distributed energy resources and controllable loads that can be applied in the grid-connected mode as well as the islanded one. The MGs can interchange power with the upstream grid in the grid-connected mode, while isolated MGs can provide the required load in remote areas. Reduced power-generation costs, reduced CO2 emissions, and reduced power losses are only a few of the advantages of using MGs in power systems. The MGs can be categorized in a variety of ways. As previously stated, MGs are divided into two main categories: grid connected and islanded. The MGs are characterized as centralized or decentralized based on their control approach. Finally, MGs can be defined as residential, commercial, or industrial MGs based on their applications. Energy storage systems (ESSs) can be integrated in any form of MG structure to deal with the fluctuating and inconsistent output power of RESs. The ESSs store surplus energy generated by photovoltaic and wind turbine systems, which can be utilized when the system meets a shortage of RES power generation. It is worth mentioning that when the energy storage units are charging, they perform as a load, while in the discharging mode, they act as a generator. In addition to the uncertainties of the power generated by RESs, there are other uncertain parameters in power systems. The market power price is the most essential factor, as it has a significant impact on the total running costs of MGs in the grid-connected mode. The system's impacts on all of the aforementioned uncertainties should be thoroughly investigated, and various strategies should be implemented. Finally, the demand response programs have been widely used in MGs in order to deal with high operation costs. These programs, which are classified as time based, incentive based, and compulsory, significantly reduce the total operating costs by shifting power consumption from peak to off-peak hours.
The main issues of using MGs can be considered as follows:
- Planning and operation;
- Alternative renewable energy sources integration of MGs;
- Economic and environmental assessments;
- Grid-connected and islanding modes;
- Centralized or decentralized based on their control approach;
- Residential, commercial, or industrial MGs based on their applications;
- Integration of energy storage systems in MGs;
- Uncertainty modeling;
- Risk management;
- Demand side management;
- Other related works.
Dr. Sayyad Nojavan
Guest Editor
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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 technologies
- wind turbines
- solar panels
- fuel cell
- energy storage systems
- electric and hydrogen vehicles
- energy management
- control technique
- energy integration
- microgrids
