Sustainable Water–Energy–Environment Nexus System and Power

Abstract submission deadline

1 April 2027

Manuscript submission deadline

1 December 2027

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Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the acceleration of urbanization and rapid societal development, coupled research on water resources, energy, and the environment has become crucial for addressing global resource and environmental challenges and achieving sustainable development. Although certain achievements have been made through single-domain management, the relatively independent systems for managing water resources, energy, and the environment have led to resource waste and low efficiency. The main issues include intensified resource competition, where energy development and utilization pollute water resources, and the over-exploitation of water resources further harms the ecological environment; severe environmental pollution, where pollutants generated during energy production and consumption cause significant damage to both water resources and the ecological environment, exacerbating resource shortages; and a lack of systemic synergy, where the absence of effective coordination mechanisms results in resource waste and policy conflicts. Based on the principles of “systems thinking and collaborative management”, it is essential to establish cross-domain coordination mechanisms, promote the coupled governance of water resources, energy, and the environment, and achieve optimized resource allocation and efficient utilization to effectively balance resource use.

Dr. Ken Sun
Dr. Li Li
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Energies energies	3.2	7.3	2008	16.8 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Environments environments	3.7	5.7	2014	19.2 Days	CHF 1800	Submit
Land land	3.2	5.9	2012	17.5 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Sustainability sustainability	3.3	7.7	2009	17.9 Days	CHF 2400	Submit
Water water	3.0	6.0	2009	18.9 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
World world	1.9	-	2020	24.7 Days	CHF 1200	Submit

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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All Energies Environments Land Sustainability Water World

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34 pages, 4009 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Optimal Operation Strategy for Island Multi-Energy Microgrids Considering the Water-Energy Nexus of Wastewater Treatment and Desalination

by Wang Pan, Wei Zhang and Dong Han

Sustainability 2026, 18(7), 3297; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18073297 - 28 Mar 2026

Viewed by 400

Abstract

Island regions face dual challenges of renewable energy accommodation and freshwater scarcity, severely constraining operational economy and reliability. However, existing research regards wastewater treatment and seawater desalination as isolated subsystems, overlooking the significant synergistic potential in their water-energy nexus. This paper proposes a [...] Read more.

Island regions face dual challenges of renewable energy accommodation and freshwater scarcity, severely constraining operational economy and reliability. However, existing research regards wastewater treatment and seawater desalination as isolated subsystems, overlooking the significant synergistic potential in their water-energy nexus. This paper proposes a novel optimal operation framework for standalone island multi-energy microgrids, constructing a water-energy coupled system that integrates wastewater treatment, seawater desalination, hydrogen electrolysis, methanation, and diversified energy storage. A hierarchical collaborative dynamic weighting mechanism is proposed to facilitate system coupling coordination. At the system macro-level, a Sigmoid-based adaptive strategy responds to real-time operating conditions by dynamically adjusting the weighting ratios of four-dimensional objectives; at the water system micro-level, the load allocation between wastewater treatment and seawater desalination is optimized through a continuous regulation mechanism. This method establishes a framework to maximize the coupling coordination between wastewater treatment and seawater desalination, fully exploiting the flexible load characteristics of water treatment facilities to mitigate renewable energy fluctuations. Simulation results from a case study validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy; the method achieves collaborative and efficient system operation alongside water-energy security assurance and significantly reduces the total system operating cost by 76,259.14 CNY compared to traditional methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Sustainable Water–Energy–Environment Nexus System and Power)

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25 pages, 2552 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Bi-Level Optimal Dispatch of Regional Water–Energy Nexus System Considering Flexible Regulation Potential of Seawater Desalination Plants

by Yibo Wang, Zhongxu Zhou, Yuan Fang, Jianing Zhou and Chuang Liu

Energies 2026, 19(6), 1420; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19061420 - 11 Mar 2026

Viewed by 494

Abstract

The continuous increase in the penetration rate of renewable energy has posed severe challenges to the flexibility of power systems, especially in coastal and island areas where local power supply is insufficient while electricity demand keeps growing. Focusing on the regional water–energy nexus [...] Read more.

The continuous increase in the penetration rate of renewable energy has posed severe challenges to the flexibility of power systems, especially in coastal and island areas where local power supply is insufficient while electricity demand keeps growing. Focusing on the regional water–energy nexus system (WENS), this paper fully taps into the flexibility potential of seawater desalination plants (SWDPs) as adjustable loads, and proposes a bi-level optimal dispatch model. First, the operational characteristics of reverse osmosis (RO) seawater desalination loads are analyzed, and an operational model encompassing water intake equipment, high-pressure pumps, clear water tanks and product water tanks is established. Second, a dispatch framework for the regional WENS incorporating SWDP is designed, on the basis of which a bi-level optimal dispatch model is constructed: the upper-level model takes maximizing wind power accommodation and minimizing wind power output fluctuation as the objectives, so as to determine the wind power output and the charging/discharging strategy of supercapacitors; constrained by the decisions made by the upper-level model, the lower-level model comprehensively takes into account the operation cost of thermal power units (TPUs), the wind curtailment penalty cost of the system, the operation cost of energy storage systems and the operation cost of SWDP, and thus establishes an optimization model with the goal of minimizing the comprehensive operation cost of the system. Finally, a comparative analysis is carried out under different scenarios. The results show that compared with the optimal scheduling scheme in which the seawater desalination load does not participate in regulation, the proposed method can reduce the wind curtailment rate by 43.71%, the energy consumption cost of the seawater desalination load by 50.98%, and the total system operation cost by 22.51%, thus providing a feasible approach for the collaborative optimization of water–energy systems in coastal areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Sustainable Water–Energy–Environment Nexus System and Power)

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37 pages, 3409 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Regionalized Life Cycle Analysis of Ecosystem External Cost Associated with Land-Use Change in Photovoltaic Systems

by Andrea Molocchi, Giulio Mela, Elisabetta Brivio and Pierpaolo Girardi

Land 2026, 15(1), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15010160 - 13 Jan 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 762

Abstract

This article presents a methodology for assessing the ecosystem external costs linked to land-use changes caused by utility-scale photovoltaic systems using a regionalized life cycle approach. The core scientific challenge is to integrate a typically non-site-specific method—life cycle assessment—with a site-specific evaluation of [...] Read more.

This article presents a methodology for assessing the ecosystem external costs linked to land-use changes caused by utility-scale photovoltaic systems using a regionalized life cycle approach. The core scientific challenge is to integrate a typically non-site-specific method—life cycle assessment—with a site-specific evaluation of ecosystem services affected by land-use changes. The methodology does not model specific agricultural practices. The approach is applied to three configurations of solar-tracking photovoltaic plants installed on arable land: ground-mounted photovoltaics, elevated agrivoltaics, and spaced agrivoltaics. For each configuration, the external costs or benefits per megawatt-hour (MWh) produced are estimated, allowing a comparative life cycle analysis. The findings show that the elevated agrivoltaic system is the only configuration resulting in a net loss of ecosystem service value, albeit marginal (−0.2 EUR/MWh). In contrast, the ground-mounted system yields a net benefit (approximately 1 EUR/MWh), followed by spaced agrivoltaics (0.1 EUR/MWh). These outcomes are mainly driven by the construction and operational phases, while the impacts from component production, transport, and end-of-life stages are significantly lower. The methodology offers a replicable framework for integrating the monetary evaluation of ecosystem services into life cycle assessments of land-intensive renewable energy systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Sustainable Water–Energy–Environment Nexus System and Power)

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42 pages, 3736 KB  

Open AccessArticle

Practical Application of Complementary Regulation Strategy of Run-of-River Small Hydropower and Distributed Photovoltaic Based on Multi-Scale Copula-MPC Algorithm

by Xianpin Zhu, Weibo Li, Shuai Cao and Wei Xu

Energies 2025, 18(14), 3833; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18143833 - 18 Jul 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1059

Abstract

A novel multi-scale copula-based model predictive control (MPC) method is proposed to address the core regulation challenges of runoff hydropower and distributed photovoltaic systems within high-penetration renewable energy grids. Complex spatio-temporal complementarity under ecological constraints and the limitations of conventional methods were critically [...] Read more.

A novel multi-scale copula-based model predictive control (MPC) method is proposed to address the core regulation challenges of runoff hydropower and distributed photovoltaic systems within high-penetration renewable energy grids. Complex spatio-temporal complementarity under ecological constraints and the limitations of conventional methods were critically analyzed. The core innovation lies in integrating copula theory with MPC, enabling adaptive spatio-temporal optimization and weight adjustment to significantly enhance the efficiency of complementary regulation and overcome traditional performance bottlenecks. Key nonlinear dependencies of water–solar resources were investigated, and mainstream techniques (copula analysis, MPC, rolling optimization, adaptive weighting) were evaluated for their applicability. Future directions for improving modeling precision and intelligent adaptive control are outlined. Full article

(This article belongs to the Topic Sustainable Water–Energy–Environment Nexus System and Power)

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