Smart Grid Technology Contributing to Sustainable Energy Development

Dear Colleagues,

The transition toward a more sustainable, secure, and resilient energy system has intensified the global focus on integrating renewable energy sources and distributed generation into power grids; however, this evolution also poses significant technical and operational challenges for traditional grid architectures—ranging from power quality disturbances and voltage fluctuations to system imbalances and diminished reliability.

Smart grids have emerged as a transformative solution to these challenges, leveraging advanced monitoring, communication, automation, and control technologies to modernize the way electricity is produced, delivered, and consumed. These systems facilitate real-time coordination between distributed energy resources (DERs), energy storage systems, demand response programs, and utility-scale infrastructure. At the heart of this evolution is the virtual power plant (VPP) concept—an orchestrated network of DERs that operate as a single, flexible power entity, capable of delivering ancillary services, improving grid stability, and ensuring power supply service quality.
Nowadays, with the advancement of DER integration into electric power networks, this particular research area has gained growing scientific and practical importance, particularly as power systems around the world grapple with the increasing complexity brought on by renewable integration, the electrification of transportation, and the need for climate-resilient infrastructure. Smart grid technology is not only essential for optimizing energy flows and minimizing emissions, it also underpins the development of intelligent, adaptive, and sustainable energy systems.

This Special Issue aims to bring together high-quality research and innovative developments in smart grid technologies that directly contribute to energy sustainability. It seeks to highlight how advanced digital tools, decentralized energy management, and intelligent control strategies can enhance power grid performance, reliability, and environmental compatibility.
The theme is fully aligned with the journal’s scope, as it promotes multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable energy systems and emphasizes novel technological, regulatory, and economic strategies to improve energy efficiency and long-term system resilience. We encourage contributions that address the nexus of smart grids, renewable integration, and energy sustainability in a wide range of contexts—from urban infrastructure to rural electrification, and from large-scale utilities to community-scale microgrids.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and comprehensive review papers are welcome, and research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Virtual power plants (VPPs) and their role in grid stability and ancillary services;
• Smart metering, data analytics, and energy demand forecasting;
• Integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) and energy storage systems;
• AI and machine learning for smart grid optimization and real-time control;
• Grid automation, self-healing networks, and fault detection;
• Demand-side management and flexible consumption strategies;
• Resilient microgrids and decentralized energy systems;
• Power quality monitoring and control in renewable-integrated grids;
• Smart grid cybersecurity and data privacy challenges;
• Policy, regulatory, and economic frameworks for smart grid deployment;
• Digital twins and simulation platforms for smart grid operation and planning;
• IoT-enabled grid infrastructure and interoperable communication protocols.

We look forward to your contributions to this exciting and vital area of energy research.

Prof. Dr. Franco F. Yanine
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 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.

• smart grids
• energy sustainability
• distributed energy resources (DER)
• virtual power plants (VPP)
• renewable energy integration
• grid flexibility
• power quality and reliability
• intelligent grid control
• energy storage systems
• demand-side management