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Sustainable Development and Optimisation of Energy Systems

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 October 2022) | Viewed by 19294

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mouloud Denai

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK
Interests: modelling, intelligent control and optimisation of renewable energy systems; energy management of smart homes; optimisation and control of future smart grids; electric vehicles, charging management and demand response (V2G and G2V); dynamic wireless charging of electric vehicles; smart mobility
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Mustapha Hatti

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Guest Editor

UDES (Unité de Développement des Equipements Solaires), CDER - Research Centre on Renewable Energies, Bou ismail, 386, 42415 Tipaza, Algeria
Interests: renewable energy technologies; energy management; artificial intelligence; smart cities; energy storage

Prof. Dr. Azeddine Draou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Islamic University of Madinah, Madinah 42351, Saudi Arabia
Interests: power electronics application; renewable energy technologies; storage system; smart grid and Energy efficiency

Dr. Pedram Asef

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK
Interests: electrical machines and drives; automotive electrical systems; autonomous and connected vehicles; renewable energy systems; optimisation and data modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy is at the forefront of the global sustainable development agenda. The key challenges are expanding universal access to a clean, affordable, and reliable energy supply, which remains a fundamental policy goal for every country. Globally, there is widespread support for the adoption of low-carbon technologies and renewable energy resources, which is gradually moving the world towards a more sustainable ecosystem. These profound changes in the energy landscape and the transition from a traditional, rigid utility power grid towards a smart digital infrastructure are beginning to transform the way we generate, supply, and consume energy, and deliver and use energy services. Consequently, energy research is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary, involving socio-economic, environmental and technological factors that must be addressed holistically.

Addressing these global challenges requires new and innovative solutions to deliver a broader range of technologies for the integration, management, coordination, and optimisation of energy systems, and their associated generation, conversion, and storage technologies. This will bring together state-of-the-art modelling, management and operation of power systems, renewable energy systems, energy storage technologies and state-of-the-art optimization models, distributed control, energy analytics and artificial intelligence techniques.

This Special Issue aims to disseminate the latest research in these interdisciplinary areas related to sustainable development and optimisation of energy systems.

We invite submission of original, high-quality articles and review papers in the following areas:

Clean Energy Transitions and Energy Security: State-of-the-art, reviews and case studies

Energy related socio-economic and environmental impacts.
Electricity markets, policies, regulatory systems.
Sustainable and resilient smart cities.
Greenhouse gas removal technologies.
Circular economy.

Energy Generation, Conversion and Storage: Modeling, Design, Control and Optimisation

Renewable and alternative energy sources.
AC/DC microgrids, smart grid technologies.
Advanced power electronics, converter technologies and topologies for renewable energy systems integration.
Electric vehicles, components, charging management and grid integration.
Energy analytics, evolutionary algorithms, computational intelligence and machine learning.
Demand response, peer-to-peer energy trading mechanisms.
Energy Storage Systems, battery technologies, hybrid storage systems, grid integration and ancillary services.
Energy harvesting, circuits and devices.
Hydrogen as a fuel for industrial processes and heating.

Reliability, Security, and Resilience of Electric Power and Energy Systems

Power quality, power system security and stability.
Cyber and physical security of electric power grids.
Wide area systems (WAMS, WAMC), PMU technologies, advanced communication technologies.
Condition monitoring, fault detection and classification, asset management.

Dr. Mouloud Denai
Dr. Mustapha Hatti
Prof. Dr. Azeddine Draou
Dr. Pedram Asef
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 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

sustainable development
renewable energy
smart grids
optimisation modelling
energy analytics
machine learning

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

14 pages, 3694 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Composite Demand-Based Energy Storage Sizing for an Isolated Microgrid System

by Abdullah Alamri, Abdulrahman AlKassem and Azeddine Draou

Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1517; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15021517 - 12 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 968

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive model for optimal energy storage system (ESS) design for an isolated microgrid. The model presented is a mixed integer linear program (MILP) that considers seasonal varying generation (VG) demand, more specifically seasonal solar cell generator (SCG) demand, SCG maintenance (failure and restoration) rates, and practical operation of conventional generation (CG) while satisfying the required demand and reserve. The model is based on unit commitment (UC) to simulate real operations and physical constraints of CG units, the power balance, and reserve requirements. The objective function aims at minimizing the associated cost of CG, namely, production (fuel), costs of startup and shutdown procedures, and the investment cost of power and energy. The proposed model is assessed on a case study system consisting of multiple SCGs in addition to CG to meet a specific demand. The proposed model showed that the ESS sizing when considering Li-Ion technology and a SCG penetration of 25% was on average approximately 3 MWh and 1.70 MW. Meeting the demand and reserve requirements were the two major constraints when determining the optimal ESS sizing. Moreover, introducing the ESS substantially reduced the operating cost of the system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development and Optimisation of Energy Systems)

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18 pages, 3282 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Renewable Energies, Storage and Sector-Coupling Technologies in the German Energy Sector under Different CO₂ Emission Restrictions

by Arjuna Nebel, Julián Cantor, Sherif Salim, Amro Salih and Dixit Patel

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10379; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su141610379 - 20 Aug 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2200

Abstract

This study aimed to simulate the sector-coupled energy system of Germany in 2030 with the restriction on

{CO}_{2}

emission levels and to observe how the system evolves with decreasing emissions. Moreover, the study presented an analysis of the interconnection between electricity, heat [...] Read more.

This study aimed to simulate the sector-coupled energy system of Germany in 2030 with the restriction on

{CO}_{2}

emission levels and to observe how the system evolves with decreasing emissions. Moreover, the study presented an analysis of the interconnection between electricity, heat and hydrogen and how technologies providing flexibility will react when restricting

{CO}_{2}

emissions levels. This investigation has not yet been carried out with the technologies under consideration in this study. It shows how the energy system behaves under different set boundaries of

{CO}_{2}

emissions and how the costs and technologies change with different emission levels. The study results show that the installed capacities of renewable technologies constantly increase with higher limitations on emissions. However, their usage rates decreases with low

{CO}_{2}

emission levels in response to higher curtailed energy. The sector-coupled technologies behave differently in this regard. Heat pumps show similar behaviour, while the electrolysers usage rate increases with more renewable energy penetration. The system flexibility is not primarily driven by the hydrogen sector, but in low

{CO}_{2}

emission level scenarios, the flexibility shifts towards the heating sector and electrical batteries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development and Optimisation of Energy Systems)

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23 pages, 6051 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhancement of Solar PV Hosting Capacity in a Remote Industrial Microgrid: A Methodical Techno-Economic Approach

by Shaila Arif, Ata E Rabbi, Shams Uddin Ahmed, Molla Shahadat Hossain Lipu, Taskin Jamal, Tareq Aziz, Mahidur R. Sarker, Amna Riaz, Talal Alharbi and Muhammad Majid Hussain

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8921; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14148921 - 21 Jul 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2545

Abstract

To meet the zero-carbon electricity generation target as part of the sustainable development goals (SDG7), remote industrial microgrids worldwide are considering the uptake of more and more renewable energy resources, especially solar PV systems. Estimating the grid PV hosting capacity plays an essential role in designing and planning such microgrids. PV hosting capacity assessment determines the maximum PV capacity suitable for the grid and the appropriate electrical location for PV placement. This research reveals that conventional static criteria to assess the PV hosting capacity fail to ensure the grid’s operational robustness. It hence demands a reduction in the theoretical hosting capacity estimation to ensure grid compatible post-fault voltage and frequency recovery. Energy storage technologies, particularly fast-responsive batteries, can potentially prevent such undesirable scenarios; nevertheless, careful integration is required to ensure an affordable cost of energy. This study proposes a novel methodical techno-economic approach for an off-grid remote industrial microgrid to enhance the PV hosting capacity by integrating battery energy storage considering grid disturbance and recovery scenarios. The method has been validated in an industrial microgrid with a 2.6 MW peak demand in a ready-made garment (RMG) factory having a distinctive demand pattern and unique constraints in remote Bangladesh. According to the analysis, integrating 2.5 MW of PV capacity and a 1.2 MVA battery bank to offset existing diesel and grid consumption would result in an energy cost of BDT 14.60 per kWh (USD 0.1719 per kWh). For high PV penetration scenarios, the application of this method offers higher system robustness, and the financial analysis indicates that the industries would not only benefit from positive environmental impact but also make an economic profit. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development and Optimisation of Energy Systems)

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29 pages, 5045 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design and Optimization of a Grid-Connected Solar Energy System: Study in Iraq

by Ali Saleh Aziz, Mohammad Faridun Naim Tajuddin, Tekai Eddine Khalil Zidane, Chun-Lien Su, Abdullahi Abubakar Mas’ud, Mohammed J. Alwazzan and Ali Jawad Kadhim Alrubaie

Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 8121; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14138121 - 03 Jul 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5277

Abstract

Hybrid energy systems (HESs) consisting of both conventional and renewable energy sources can help to drastically reduce fossil fuel utilization and greenhouse gas emissions. The optimal design of HESs requires a suitable control strategy to realize the design, technical, economic, and environmental objectives. The aim of this study is to investigate the optimum design of a grid-connected PV/battery HES that can address the load requirements of a residential house in Iraq. The MATLAB Link in the HOMER software was used to develop a new dispatch strategy that predicts the upcoming solar production and electricity demand. A comparison of the modified strategy with the default strategies, including load following and cycle charging in HOMER, is carried out by considering the techno-economic and environmental perspectives. According to optimization studies, the modified strategy results in the best performance with the least net present cost (USD 33,747), unmet load (87 kWh/year), grid purchases (6188 kWh/year), and CO₂ emission (3913 kg/year). Finally, the sensitivity analysis was performed on various critical parameters, which are found to affect the optimum results on different scales. Taking into consideration the recent advocacy efforts aimed at achieving the sustainable development targets, the models proposed in this paper can be used for a similar system design and operation planning that allow a shift to more efficient dispatch strategies of HESs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development and Optimisation of Energy Systems)

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28 pages, 4082 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Future Trends and Aging Analysis of Battery Energy Storage Systems for Electric Vehicles

by Pedram Asef, Marzia Milan, Andrew Lapthorn and Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban

Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13779; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132413779 - 14 Dec 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4963

Abstract

The increase of electric vehicles (EVs), environmental concerns, energy preservation, battery selection, and characteristics have demonstrated the headway of EV development. It is known that the battery units require special considerations because of their nature of temperature sensitivity, aging effects, degradation, cost, and sustainability. Hence, EV advancement is currently concerned where batteries are the energy accumulating infers for EVs. This paper discusses recent trends and developments in battery deployment for EVs. Systematic reviews on explicit energy, state-of-charge, thermal efficiency, energy productivity, life cycle, battery size, market revenue, security, and commerciality are provided. The review includes battery-based energy storage advances and their development, characterizations, qualities of power transformation, and evaluation measures with advantages and burdens for EV applications. This study offers a guide for better battery selection based on exceptional performance proposed for traction applications (e.g., BEVs and HEVs), considering EV’s advancement subjected to sustainability issues, such as resource depletion and the release in the environment of ozone and carbon-damaging substances. This study also provides a case study on an aging assessment for the different types of batteries investigated. The case study targeted lithium-ion battery cells and how aging analysis can be influenced by factors such as ambient temperature, cell temperature, and charging and discharging currents. These parameters showed considerable impacts on life cycle numbers, as a capacity fading of 18.42%, between 25–65 °C was observed. Finally, future trends and demand of the lithium-ion batteries market could increase by 11% and 65%, between 2020–2025, for light-duty and heavy-duty EVs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development and Optimisation of Energy Systems)

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Review

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35 pages, 1762 KiB

Open AccessReview

Linear Permanent Magnet Vernier Generators for Wave Energy Applications: Analysis, Challenges, and Opportunities

by Reza Jafari, Pedram Asef, Mohammad Ardebili and Mohammad Mahdi Derakhshani

Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 10912; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su141710912 - 01 Sep 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2236

Abstract

Harvesting energy from waves as a substantial resource of renewable energy has attracted much attention in recent years. Linear permanent magnet vernier generators (LPMVGs) have been widely adopted in wave energy applications to extract clean energy from oceans. Linear PM vernier machines perform based on the magnetic gearing effect, allowing them to offer high power/force density at low speeds. The outstanding feature of providing high power capability makes linear vernier generators more advantageous compared to linear PM synchronous counterparts used in wave energy conversion systems. Nevertheless, they inherently suffer from a poor power factor arising from their considerable leakage flux. Various structures and methods have been introduced to enhance their performance and improve their low power factor. In this work, a comparative study of different structures, distinguishable concepts, and operation principles of linear PM vernier machines is presented. Furthermore, recent advancements and innovative improvements have been investigated. They are categorized and evaluated to provide a comprehensive insight into the exploitation of linear vernier generators in wave energy extracting systems. Finally, some significant structures of linear PM vernier generators are modeled using two-dimensional finite element analysis (2D-FEA) to compare their electromagnetic characteristics and survey their performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development and Optimisation of Energy Systems)

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