Search Results (15)

The European Union (EU) is advancing a digital twin of its electricity grid as a flagship initiative to accelerate the dual transitions of decarbonization and digitalization. By creating a real-time virtual replica of the EU-27 power network, policymakers and industry stakeholders aim to enhance grid efficiency, resilience, and renewable energy integration. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of the three critical dimensions shaping the digital twin’s development: (1) regulatory barriers, including fragmented policies, inconsistent data governance frameworks, and the need for harmonized standards and incentives across member states; (2) technological challenges, such as achieving interoperability, integrating real-time data, developing robust cybersecurity measures, and ensuring scalable infrastructure; and (3) economic opportunities, centered on potential cost savings, optimized asset management, new flexibility services, and pathways for innovation and investment. Drawing on European Commission policy documents, regulatory reports, academic studies, and industry projects like the Horizon Europe TwinEU initiative, this review highlights that significant groundwork has been laid to prototype and federate local grid twins into a cohesive continental system. However, achieving the full potential of a pan-European digital twin will require additional regulatory harmonization, more mature data-sharing protocols, and sustained financial commitment. This review concludes with an outlook on the strategic convergence of policy reforms, collaborative R&D, and targeted funding, emphasizing how institutional momentum, federated architectures, and cross-sector integration are advancing a secure, resilient, and economically viable digital twin that is envisioned as a foundational layer in the operational and planning infrastructure of Europe’s future electricity system. Full article

Jiangxi Province relies heavily on thermal power and energy imports but is rich in natural resources, particularly lithium. This study explores strategies for advancing wind–solar–storage systems to help Jiangxi transition to a low-carbon energy structure. Using LEAP and NEMO models, four scenarios are examined: the reference (REF) scenario, new energy storage policy scenario (NPS), high wind–solar power capacity scenario (HWSS), and comprehensive optimization scenario (COS). Key findings show that the COS and HWSS offer significant advantages over the REF scenario and NPS in terms of energy storage efficiency, carbon emission reduction, and cost savings. By 2035, under the COS, wind and solar power share rises to 48%, reducing coal use by 5.9 million tons and electricity imports by 40.0 TWh compared to the REF scenario. Battery storage utilization increases by 1499.8 GWh, nearly four times that of the REF scenario. This scenario also cuts CO₂ emissions by 16.8% and lowers cumulative social costs by 5.19 billion USD, delivering optimal economic efficiency. The study also identifies challenges such as high investment costs, underdeveloped business models, and low resource utilization, and recommends setting higher targets, implementing flexible solutions, promoting market reforms, and increasing R&D efforts, among other measures. Full article

Electric vehicles have gained significant popularity in the market, with sales increasing yearly. The introduction of new policies and reforms aimed at promoting environmental sustainability, coupled with the release of more advanced electric vehicles with higher driving ranges and technical specifications, has encouraged more people to consider switching to electric vehicles. However, there is still a lack of understanding of public perception and the factors influencing the decision to switch to electric vehicles, especially among people from different demographic groups. In this study, we leverage machine learning techniques to analyze public opinion about electric vehicles across different demographic groups on two online social networks (OSNs), namely Reddit and Twitter. Our analyses provide valuable insights into how users on these platforms perceive electric vehicles and the factors that influence their perception. This information can be used to inform market strategies and future policies aimed at promoting the adoption of electric vehicles. Full article

Since the reform and opening-up, under the new economic situation and policy, the rapid growth of power demand in Beijing is threatening the sustainable development of China’s economy and environment. To recognize the driving factors of electricity consumption growth and offer policy implications, based on the data of electricity consumption, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the resident population in Beijing from 1990 to 2021, this research used the Kaya-equation and logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) model to decompose the growth of power demand in Beijing into the quantitative contribution of each driving factor from the perspective of industrial electricity consumption and residential electricity consumption. The results of the decomposition analysis show that, as far as industrial electricity consumption is concerned, the contribution rates of economic growth, electricity consumption intensity and output value structure to industrial electricity growth are 234.26%, −109.01% and −25.25%, respectively, which shows that economic growth is the primary driving force promoting the growth of industrial electricity demand. Power consumption intensity is the main reason for restraining the growth of industrial power demand, the growth rate is sliding and the contribution of the industrial structure is relatively small; as far as residential power consumption is concerned, the contribution rates of per capita power consumption and population size to residential power growth are 68.13% and 31.87%, respectively, which indicates that per capita power consumption is the main factor promoting the growth of residential power demand, followed by the total population. The study results show that the consumption of electric power would increase if Beijing’s economy and urbanization keep developing, and optimizing the industry structure, improving the efficiency of electric energy utilization and adopting clean power energy are the main approaches to making Beijing’s consumption of electric power decrease. Full article

With the deepening reform of the power system, power sales companies need to adopt new power sales strategies to provide customers with better economic marketing solutions. Customer-side configuration of an energy storage system (ESS) can participate in power-related policies to reduce the comprehensive cost of electricity for commercial and industrial customers and improve customer revenue. For power sales companies, this can also attract new customers, expand sales and quickly capture the market. However, most of the ESS evaluation models studied so far are based on historical data configuration of typical daily storage capacity and charging and discharging scheduling instructions. In addition, most models do not adequately consider the performance characteristics of the ESS and cannot accurately assess the economics of the energy storage model. This study proposes an intelligent power sales strategy based on load forecasting with the participation of optimal allocation of ESS. Based on long short-term memory (LSTM) artificial neural network for predictive analysis of customer load, we evaluate the economics of adding energy storage to customers. Based on the premise of the two-part tariff, the ESS evaluation model is constructed with the objective of minimizing the annual comprehensive cost to the user by considering the energy tariff and the savings benefits of the basic tariff, assessing the annualized cost of ESS over its entire life cycle, and the impact of battery capacity decay on economics. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is introduced to solve the model. By simulating the arithmetic example for real customers, their integrated electricity costs are significantly reduced. Moreover, this smart power sales strategy can provide different sales strategies according to the expected payback period of customers. This smart sales strategy can output more accurate declared maximum demand values than other traditional sales strategies, providing a more economical solution for customers. Full article

The introduction of the new round of electricity reform policies has made the electricity sales companies’ trading environment increasingly complex. In the medium- and long-term market and spot market, following the new policy-oriented optimization of trading decisions is the focus of electricity sales companies. The main objective of this study is to consider the impact of the latest policies of China’s current electricity reform on each subject of electricity trading and to propose a method for electricity sales companies to make optimal decisions on renewable energy source (RES) power and conventional energy source (CES) power mixed with power trading in the medium- and long-term and spot markets to improve the efficiency of electricity market trading, promoting the consumption of renewable energy and helping the synergistic development of the electricity market and the tradable green certificate (TGC) market. This paper first discusses the impact of the new electricity reform policies on the transactions of various subjects in the electricity market and constructs the model of the consumer utility function, the profit model of an electricity sales company, and the profit model of power generators with energy storage. Considering the complex power supply and demand relationship among the various subjects of the electricity market, a game model is established for the decision on mixed trading between the medium- and long-term market, the spot market, and the tradable green certificate market to minimize the comprehensive power purchase cost of an electricity sales company. To reduce the decision-making risk caused by the uncertainty of spot price, the prophet model is used to predict the spot price; finally, through the analysis of the decision-making model of the electricity sales companies, the optimal transaction decisions of the electricity sales companies in different trading periods and different scenarios are solved. The test results show that the proposed model can significantly improve the profitability of the electricity sales companies and provide a decision-making reference for electricity sales companies to participate in the medium- and long-term market and spot market. Full article

Fuel-driven cars are widely considered unsustainable and contrary to the new paradigm of smart growth planning. The need to reform transport behavior, policies, and infrastructure is among the priorities in urban policies around the world. Electric vehicles are an emerging technology that could advance sustainability programs. In the past year, there has been a rapid increase in the diffusion of electric scooters in several European cities, but various states have been unprepared for the rapid spread of green micro-mobility from a regulatory point of view. In addition, in parallel with the spread, there have been numerous road collisions involving standing electric scooters. The aim of this study was to obtain a detailed view of this phenomenon. We focused on the current legislation on electric micro-mobility at the European level to study and summarize the different attitudes adopted by various states whose regulations are present on the web. (It was not possible to evaluate the regulations of all European countries because they are not all available on online platforms.) The elements assessed in the various regulation were age limits, speed limits, compulsory use of helmets, administrative penalties, and the obligation to insure the new e-vehicle (standing scooter). In this study, we analyze the state of the art in electric micro-mobility, highlight the current situation’s limits, and propose new strategies to adequately integrate this new smart vehicle into the urban transport network. Full article

The current South Korean government headed by President Moon Jae-in has put a great deal of effort into electricity mix reform by pushing forward the phasing out of coal and nuclear power and the expansion of natural gas and new renewable energy in the country’s electricity generation processes. Noting the importance of understanding public responses to energy policy, the present study segmented the South Korean public according to their preferred direction for electricity mix reform using a nationwide sample. Through a series of latent class analyses, we extracted four distinct segments: Gradual Reformists, Drastic Reformists, Selective Gradual Reformists, and Status-quo Seekers. Overall, apart from the Status-quo Seekers segment (8.75%), support for the transition from coal and nuclear power to natural gas and new renewable energy seems to be the prevailing opinion of the Korean public. However, the degree of such preferences varies across the segments. In addition, regardless of the segment, the South Korean public generally seems to categorize the energy sources in a manner consistent with the underlying framework of the government’s electricity mix reform: they tend to treat coal and nuclear power similarly and natural gas and new renewable energy similarly. Full article

The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly discernible everywhere, and initiatives have been taken worldwide to mitigate climate change. In agriculture, particularly meat production from the livestock sector is known to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that drive climate change. Thus, to mitigate climate impact, strategies that include a shift in consumption patterns, technological advancements and reduction in food wastes/losses have been discussed. In this review, strategies that focus on meat consumption patterns are evaluated from the technological feasibility, environmental impact and consumer acceptance viewpoints. While plant-based substitutes have efficient nutrient conversion and lower GHG emissions, consumer perception, cost, and other trade-offs exist. Although cultured meat precludes the need of any animals and large land areas, its environmental impact is not clear and is contingent upon production systems and the achievement of decarbonization. Reducing wastes and the re-use of meat processing by-products have the potential to lower the environmental impact. Valuable proteins, heat, electricity and biofuels extracted from wastes and by-products not only reduce the disposal of wastes but also offset some GHG emissions. Perception related challenges that exist for all substitution strategies require specific consumer target marketing strategies. Policy measures such as taxation of meat products and subsidies for alternatives are also met with challenges, thereby requiring reforms or new policies. Full article

With the deepening of the reform of the power system, electricity sales companies are required to explore new business models and provide multi-faceted marketing programs for users. At the same time, with the reduction of energy storage (ES) costs and the gradual maturity of technology, user side ES, especially Battery ES, has become an effective means for enhancing users’ power supply reliability and reducing electricity bills. Battery ES, as the standby power supply, has a vast user side application. The configuration of ES can help users to ameliorate power quality and reduce electricity cost. It is a critical strategy for electricity sales companies to improve their competitiveness as well. Firstly, this paper analyzes the user side ES and introduces the user side ES development status and relevant policies. Then, we establish an ES configuration optimization model based on the cost–benefit system. To determine the optimal ES capacity of the system’s storage capacity, non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm with elite strategy (NSGA-II) is used as the method solving model. Finally, according to the cost-effectiveness of ES and the period of a contract signed by users, a price package with ES configuration is designed for users to choose. Full article

In China, electricity market reform was first implemented in 2015. At the same time, the national carbon market was built, along with the electricity industry, which was considered a breakthrough. Some key considerations for the future development of China’s electricity system include the implementation of demand-side measures in order to adjust the peak-to-valley difference and the economic dispatch of increasing intermittent renewable energy and traditional energy in the process of power marketization with the implementation of a carbon policy. This paper examines the impact of policies on electricity generation by modelling the evolution process of power marketization and the economic dispatch of generation technologies over a sixteen-year period beginning in 2020. We model four potential influencing factors of government policy: (1) the demand response mode; (2) power marketization process; (3) capacity adjustment of thermal power units; and (4) carbon taxes, which vary in terms of their timing and amount. This model assesses the impact of these influencing factors on the competition between electricity generators using a range of output variables, including generation portfolios, electricity prices, capacity factors, CO₂ emissions, etc. The results show that the new round of electricity market reforms has had a positive impact on renewable energy generation. The influence of carbon policy is evident in the promotion, transformation and elimination of thermal units, and an indirect increase in renewable energy generation. Full article

China’s electricity market is in the environment for a round of new electric power reform, energy planning and transformation and the carbon market construction. The current market players are in urgent need of implementing their own energy saving and emission reduction actions. Relatively extensive and systematic researches on the assessment of the energy saving and emission reduction effects for the power plants, power grid companies, and technical equipment have been carried out at home and abroad. However, there are still vacancies in the researches on those for electricity retailers emerged on the sales side. Based on the carding and analysis of related policies and guidance, in this paper, relevant indicators are considered to build the evaluation indicator system of the energy saving and emission reduction effects for electricity retailers. The combination weights are gained by means of analytic hierarchy process and entropy weight method. Then, after the combined empowerment of indicators, the multi-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of energy saving and emission reduction effects for electricity retailers is conducted. Finally, choosing 10 electricity retailers (numbered from A to J) as evaluation objects, this model is used for obtaining the evaluation results and ranking of energy saving and emission reduction effects of electricity retailers, which provides reasonable ideas for the construction of evaluation indicator system and effective comprehensive evaluation methods of energy saving and emission reduction effects for market players in the electricity sales side. The results of example analysis show that, from a single dimension, the best electricity retailers in market transactions, technical means, integrated energy services, management system, and social responsibilities are followed by B, J, D, G, C, or I. However, from a global perspective, the sorted evaluation results are D, J, I, A, H, G, E, B, F, and C, which reflects the overall energy saving and emission reduction effects of electricity retailers through the two-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. Full article

In 2015, a new round reform of the marketization for the electricity sales in China is launched. This paper investigates the policy selection for this reform in China, from the perspective of political economics. We analyze the policy selection of the 2015 reform from two aspects of market structure and pricing mechanism. According to the policy of the 2015 reform, China’s power industry is of great potential to develop the market structures of “integration of generation and retail services while integrating transmission and distribution” versus “integration of generation, distribution and retail services while independent of transmission”. Those two market structures have advantages on competition efficiency and political practicability. For the pricing mechanisms, the power exchange market of China can take bilateral contracts for the long-term trading and double-sided auctions for the short-term trading, as well as for the spot market. In addition, electricity financial market can be set up as a supplement for the power exchange market, which is of potential contribution to manage the risk and discover the effective price. The 2015, reform assigns two state-owned grid companies the responsibility of the demand side management. The intelligent system to improve the information management of energy consumption can be established. Utilization of renewable energy is also emphasized in the 2015 reform for energy sustainability in China. Effective policy instruments, such as the efficient subsidy policy, an independent exchange market, and a quota system, for the promotion of renewable energy utilization, can be implemented. Full article

In 2009, the implementation of feed-in tariff (FIT) and attractive public subsidies for onshore wind farms aroused great investment enthusiasm and spurred remarkable development of wind power in China. Meanwhile, rapid learning-by-doing has significantly cut down the cost of wind turbines and the capital cost of wind farms as well. Therefore, it is the right time to examine the appropriateness of the existing FIT policy for wind power in China. In this paper, we employ the analytical framework for levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) to model the generation cost of wind power. Results show that the existing FIT policy is attractive to investors, but serious curtailment and turbine quality issues could make wind power unprofitable. Meanwhile, rapid substantial decreases in the cost of wind power have made it competitive to coal power in 2013, implying that it is possible and necessary to reform the FIT policy for new wind farms. In the future, energy policies for onshore wind power in China could be concentrated on reducing the integration cost, so as to reduce the overall system cost. Full article

The Erasmus University College Brussels (EHB) and its partner the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) constitute the University Association Brussels (UAB), developing a common integrated policy towards the creation of a university space within the capital of Europe. In this framework, the Master degree curricula at EHB, including the industrial engineering curriculum at the IWT department, are now in a phase of academization, which means the introduction of a research-based academic culture necessary to grant academic Master degrees. One of the main challenges with reforming the contemporary higher education landscape remains the transition from traditional ex-cathedra teaching to a more student-centered education sphere focused on the creation of competences. Although the acquisition of a sound theoretical knowledge will always remain the base foundation of the education of the intellectual, the introduction of projectoriented curriculum elements is a key factor in creating a learning environment allowing acquiring and exercising a wide array of skills and competences, including non-cognitive ones, to bene t the industrial and societal deployment of the engineer. The industrial engineer, as formed by EHB in a four year curriculum (three bachelor years and one master year), shall in fact be a polyvalent, operative intellectual, who is able to implement innovative solutions and to solve problems occurring in industrial practice. The involvement of master students in a multidisciplinary project is a premier occasion to create a learning environment enabling student personal development in such direction, including teamwork dynamics. The choice of an electrically propelled competition vehicle as pedagogical project presents several key bene ts. Not only concerns it a subject which greatly appeals to students and which has a large potential for dissemination and student attraction, but it also presents an occasion to enlighten students towards the philosophy of electric transportation which represents the key solution for future sustainable mobility. In urban traffic, due to their bene cial effect on environment, electric vehicles are an important factor for improvement of traffic and more particularly for a healthier living environment. But also when performance is what it is aimed for, electric traction presents substantial environmental and technical bene ts compared with legacy technologies. The introduction of this environmental consciousness enhances the curriculum and contributes to the formation of morally and socially responsible industrial engineers, which is a major bene t for their own personal development as well as for society as a whole. The current project is aimed at the realization of a hybrid electric formula-type vehicle, based on a "Predator" class car body. This type of vehicle is used for competitions in Italy, albeit with a legacy drive train, and presents a versatile platform to implement new drive train technologies. Full article