As the low-carbon economy continues to evolve, the energy structure adjustment of using renewable energies to replace fossil fuel energies has become an inevitable trend. To increase the ratio of renewable energies in the electric power system and improve the economic efficiency of power generation systems based on renewables with hydrogen production, in this paper, an operation optimization model of a wind−solar hybrid hydrogen energy storage system is established based on electrochemical energy storage and hydrogen energy storage technology. The adaptive simulated annealing particle swarm algorithm is used to obtain the solution, and the results are compared with the standard particle swarm algorithm. The results show that the day-ahead operation scheme solved by the improved algorithm can save about 28% of the system operating cost throughout the day. The analytical results of the calculation example revealed that the established model had fully considered the actual operational fea... [more]

The main idea of this article is to identify the benefits of the full vehicle substitution process for a fully sustainable Urban Freight Transport (UFT) in economic, social, and environmental terms, based on the application of the experimental method. The scientific assumption was made that Electric Delivery Vehicles (EFV) can be complementary in the first stage, and only in the next stage, substitutable to the traditional diesel-powered fleet servicing transport (courier) tasks within the delivery limits in the Szczecin Agglomeration. To assess the level of substitutability, observational instruments were used, while ensuring an active modification of the studied phenomenon (introduction to the operation of selected routes of electric vehicles). The focus was on three key elements, the environment, rules, and regularities. The article presents the architecture of such experiments regarding 22 selected routes, which allowed for the calculation of selected performance indicators for ex-... [more]

Electric vehicles (EV) have the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions. Yet, the current electric vehicle charging infrastructure utilizes electricity generated from non-renewable sources. In this study, the rooftop area of structures is analyzed to assess electricity that can be generated through solar- and wind-based technologies. Consequently, planning an electric vehicle charging infrastructure that is powered through ‘clean’ energy sources is presented. We developed an optimal modeling framework for the consideration of Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) along with EV infrastructure. After examining the level of technology, a MATLAB image segmentation technique was used to assess the available rooftop area. In this study, two competitive objectives including the economic cost of the system and CO2 emissions are considered. Three scenarios are examined to assess the potential of RET to meet the EV demand along with the Abu Dhabi city one while considering the life-cycl... [more]

With the development of EVs (Electric Vehicles) and the rapidly developing policies on low carbon and environmental protection, electric power systems and natural gas systems become increasingly larger. Under these circumstances, the V2G (Vehicle-to-grid) and the coordinated operation of an integrated electricity−gas distribution system (IEGDS), considering CO2 emissions, can play a part together in the process of energy conservation. Firstly, the V2G model is discussed; this paper presents the cost differences between out-of-order and order for the car. Secondly, the IEGDS model presents coupling constraints of gas turbines and power-to-gas. Lastly, carbon emission is considered in this paper; a carbon capture plant (CCP) captures the CO2 burning by fossil fuel in the power generation process and stores it in a carbon storage tank. This paper also considers trading with the carbon market via a carbon storage warehouse. With the cooperation of various components, a comprehensive model... [more]

An increasing number of devices and their communication with each other generates huge amounts of data. The efficiency of processing such large and heterogeneous data is crucial for extracting the reliable and consistent information that is needed for the effective management of smart cities within the field of transport. Data heterogeneity and volume as well as its integration and analytics are big challenges for decision-makers. The development of urban agglomerations is largely dependent on the proper management of such data. Therefore, this paper explores the role of these data repositories, their acquisition from different sources, and the ways to combine them. The main goal of this paper is to propose a concept of Smart City management based on Big Data Analytics and technology related to UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) which may reduce costs and resource consumption. The presented concept includes successive data generation and collection, data type identification, problem and re... [more]

The rise of the intelligent, local charging facilitation and environmentally friendly aspects of electric vehicles (EVs) has grabbed the attention of many end-users. However, there are still numerous challenges faced by researchers trying to put EVs into competition with internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs). The major challenge in EVs is quick recharging and the selection of an optimal charging station. In this paper, we present the most recent research on EV charging management systems and their role in smart cities. EV charging can be done either in parking mode or on-the-move mode. This review work is novel due to many factors, such as that it focuses on discussing centralized and distributed charging management techniques supported by a communication framework for the selection of an appropriate charging station (CS). Similarly, the selection of CS is evaluated on the basis of battery charging as well as battery swapping services. This review also covered plug-in charging te... [more]

Recently there has been a considerable increase in the penetration level of distributed energy resources (DERs) due to various factors, such as the increasing affordability of these resources, the global movement towards sustainable energy, and the energy democracy movement. However, the uncertainty and variability of DERs introduce new challenges for power system operations. Advanced techniques that account for the characteristics of DERs, i.e., their intermittency and human-in-the-loop factors, are essential to improving distribution system operations. This paper proposes a behavior-aware approach to analyze and aggregate prosumers’ participation in demand response (DR) programs. A convexified AC optimal power flow (ACOPF) via a second-order cone programming (SOCP) technique is used for system scheduling with DERs. A chance-constrained framework for the system operation is constructed as an iterative two-stage algorithm that can integrate loads, DERs’ uncertainty, and SOCP-based ACOP... [more]

Electrical power distribution is the most important division in the power supply chain. However, its sustainability in terms of efficiency is very important for the growth of every country. This main objective of the paper is to assess the productivity dynamics of this process using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology to analyse the effectiveness of the electricity distribution regions (EDRs) over a period of 7 years. The paper adapts the biennial Malmquist productivity index by infusing it with the slacks-based measure (SBM) to assess the productivity dynamics of EDRs in Ghana. Productivity dynamics were assessed by decomposing the SBM-BMPI productivity scores into the efficiency, technology, and scale change. It was discovered that the productivity of EDRs in Ghana progressed by 16.23% per annum over the sample period. Productivity was driven mainly by technological change and not the efficiency changes and scale changes.

The National Observatory of Athens intends to operate a European Climate Change Observatory (ECCO) on the island of Antikythera, which meets the criteria to become a first-class research infrastructure. This project requires electricity that is unprofitable to get from the thermal units of this small island (20 km2). Solar energy is the subject that was examined in case it can give an environmentally and economically viable solution, both for the observatory and for the whole island. Specifically, observational and modeled data were utilized relevant to solar dynamic and atmospheric parameters in order to simulate the solar energy production by photovoltaics (PV) and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant technologies. To this direction, a synergy of aerosol and cloud optical properties from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) and the Eumetsat’s support to nowcasting and very short range forecasting (NWC SAF) with Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) techniques was used in orde... [more]

An increase in energy demand in the coming years is inevitable, and therefore it is necessary to provide optimal solutions for this future need. This paper examines the future energy demands of the southern regions of Iran (with a hot and dry climate and high energy needs). In this regard, the overall structure of the research has been divided into three parts. In the first part, using historical energy consumption data, the energy demand in 2030 is predicted. This is carried out utilizing a time series analysis method, namely Holt−Winters. Then, relying on the plans of the Iran Ministry of Energy, various energy plans have been designed and energy modeling has been carried out for both base and forecast years. Finally, regarding a multi-criteria decision-making approach, energy plans are ranked and the best scenarios are selected and analyzed. The results of modeling and multi-criteria analysis showed that comprehensive and simultaneous development in the construction of thermal and r... [more]

Severe weather conditions not only damage electric power infrastructure, and energy systems, but also affect millions of users, including residential, commercial or industrial consumers. Moreover, power outages due to weather-related natural disasters have been causing financial losses worth billions of US dollars. In this paper, we analyze the impact of power outages on the revenue of electric power suppliers, particularly due to the top five weather-related natural disasters. For this purpose, reliable and publicly available power outage events data are considered. The data provide the time of the outage event, the geographic region, electricity consumption and tariffs, social and economic indicators, climatological annotation, consumer category distribution, population and land area, and so forth. An exploratory analysis is carried out to reveal the impact of weather-related disasters and the associated electric power revenue risk. The top five catastrophic weather-related natural d... [more]

The global industrial chain and energy supply chain are being reconfigured at an accelerated pace, and the uncertainty of China’s energy supply security is growing significantly. Empowering energy supply chains through the digital economy (diec) has a positive effect on accelerating the transformation of China’s energy supply structure. This paper discusses the effect and mechanisms of the digital economy on energy supply chain efficiency (esce). Specifically, based on the panel data of 112 energy enterprises in China from 2011 to 2019, energy supply chain efficiency and digital economy at the enterprise level were evaluated through three-stage DEA and content analysis, respectively. A two-way fixed effects model and mediation effect mode were adopted to investigate the nexus of diec and esce. The results show that the digital economy improves energy supply chain efficiency, and the conclusion holds water even after a series of robustness tests and endogenous treatment. Meanwhile, its... [more]

In this paper, the problem of charging electric motor vehicles on a motorway is considered. Charging points are located alongside the motorway. It is assumed that there are a number of vehicles on a given section of a motorway. In the motorway, there are several nodes, and for each vehicle, the entering and the leaving nodes are known, as well as the time of entrance. For each vehicle, we know the total capacity of its battery, and the current amount of energy in the battery when entering the motorway. It is also assumed that for each vehicle, there is a finite set of speeds it can use when traveling the motorway. The speed is chosen when entering the motorway, and cannot be changed before reaching the charging station. For each speed, there is given a corresponding power usage; the higher the speed, the larger the power usage. Each vehicle can only use one charger, and when its battery is full, the amount of energy is sufficient for reaching the outgoing node. We look for a feasible s... [more]

Pakistan has been facing energy crises for more than a decade as a result of its reliance on imported fossil fuels, circular debt, political instability, and absurd energy policies. However, the country has abundant renewable energy resources which, if harnessed, may help to effectively cope with ever-increasing energy demand. This review study investigates the country’s economic and energy situations, energy crises, and energy sector performance. A critical analysis of studies conducted on Pakistan’s energy planning since its independence in 1947 is, and policies announced to date are assessed. This review reveals that the economic situation of the country has remained severely stressed, and energy sector performance has been compromised over the years for various underlying reasons. The energy policy narrative in the early decades of the post-independence period focused on water resource management, whereas energy concerns were only realized in the late 1960s as demand grew. The firs... [more]

In recent years, the peak−valley differences in urban power loads have been increasing. It is difficult to maintain the real-time balance of a power system by relying solely on the generation-side resources. As a typical flexible load, an air conditioning load can balance the supply and demand of a power grid by adjusting power using the thermal inertia of buildings. From the perspective of a load aggregator, this study models and aggregates the dispatch of a single inverter air conditioner distributed in a region to determine the adjustment potential of an air conditioning cluster. Then, according to the demand response capacity requirements, an optimal strategy for the aggregate dispatch of an inverter air conditioner considering incentive compensation measures is proposed with the objective of maximizing the load quotient economic benefit. The sensitivity analysis of the compensation factor for temperature rise is also performed. The results show that 3000 inverter air conditioners... [more]

Delays in completing the construction of oil and gas projects impact the production, sustainability, reliability, and revenues of the company, which result in market share losses in the long term. This research aimed to determine, evaluate, and rank the root causes of schedule delays in oil and gas pipeline projects in Saudi Arabia. Forty-seven different causes were identified firstly from a wide-ranging literature review and then finalized through conducting interviews with two local experts. These causes were ranked by distributing and analyzing questionnaires on the topic. Client-related materials, delays in materials and equipment delivery, permit approval, delays in subcontractor work, and delays in preparing and approving engineering drawings were found to be the top five major causes affecting oil and gas pipeline construction projects. From the initial analyses, it was observed that an adversarial relationship was apparent as the results indicated that the parties tended to bla... [more]

The concurrent planning of multiple Distributed Generations (DGs), consisting of solar-DG and DSTATCOM with reconfiguration in IEEE 33 and 69 bus Radial Distribution Network (RDN), using Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization (APSO) and hybrid Grey Wolf-Particle Swarm Optimization (GWO-PSO), is reported in this paper. For this planning, a novel multiple objective-based fitness-function (MOFF) is proposed based on various performance parameters of the system, such as power losses (both active, as well as reactive loss), system voltage profile, short circuit level of line current (SCLLCurrent), and system reliability. The economic perspective of the system has also been considered based on the various costs, such as fix, loss, and Energy Not Supplied (ENS) cost. Two case studies have been presented on IEEE 33 and 69 bus RDN to validate the efficacy of the proposed methodology. The results analysis of the system shows that better performance can be achieved with the proposed technique for 3... [more]

The electrification of vehicles is considered to be the means of reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the transport sector, but “range anxiety” makes most people reluctant to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) as their main method of transportation. Workplace charging has been proven to counter range anxiety and workplace charging is becoming quite common. A workplace parking lot can house hundreds of EVs. In this paper, a program has been developed in MATLAB that uses the well-known evolutionary optimization algorithm, the genetic algorithm (GA), to optimize the charging schedule of fifty EVs that aims at achieving three goals: (a) keeping the electricity demand low, (b) reducing the cost of charging and (c) applying load shifting. Three schedules were developed for three scenarios. The results demonstrate that each schedule was successful in achieving its goal, which means that scheduling the charging of a fleet of EVs can be used as a method of demand-side management (DSM) in w... [more]

A battery-swapping station (BSS) can serve as a flexible source in distribution systems, since electric vehicle (EV) batteries can be charged at different time periods prior to their swapping at a BSS. This paper presents an EV battery service transformation from charging to swapping batteries for EVs for the capacity enhancement of a distribution system. A novel mathematical model is proposed to optimally quantify and maximize the flexibility of BSS loads in providing demand response for the utility operator while considering technical operations in the distribution grid. Case studies and numerical findings that consider data from the National Household Travel Survey and a 32-bus distribution system are reported and discussed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. Offering battery-swapping services helps reduce not only the peak load, but also the station operation cost.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the rate of the changes of the annual volume of the municipal waste deposited in the landfill in Promnik, Poland in the period 2003−2020, and to assess the applicability of archival aerial photos for this kind of survey. The landfill analyzed in this article is the main recipient of garbage from the city of Kielce, with a population of 200,000. That assessment is crucial for municipal waste management planning, bio-gases management, expected use time and reclamation of landfill area. Important issues to consider are how the new legal regulations, in effect from 2012, affected the amount of the municipal waste and the rate of landfill growth. Measurement of the volume changes was conducted using a photogrammetric method on the archival aerial photos from 2003 to 2015 and aerial photos acquired using an unmanned air vehicle in 2020. Reference material was digital elevation model (DEM) of this area, derived from aerial laser scanning performed in 2014.... [more]

This paper presents the results of a study on city logistics in the urban tourist area as a research field. Both disciplines are developing intensively, and the research results have many implications for business practices, in particular for alternative fuel for transport, energy savings, waste management, and creating new business models that meet the challenges of modern society. In the era of decarbonisation, city logistics and tourism must define new rules for coexistence. The identified dominant subfields (tourism, logistics, urban transport, urban development and planning, new technologies, and sustainable development) and the links between them have pointed to some research gaps and suggested a direction for further research. The research procedure applied, adapted to the overall goal of the study, consists of an analysis of publications in the Scopus database (February 2022). A keyword co-occurrence network for the research field of city logistics in the urban tourist area is... [more]

Green hydrogen supply chain includes supply sources, production, and distribution of hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources (RES). It is a promising scientific and application area, as it is related to the problem of instability of power grids supplied with RES. The article presents the conceptual assumptions of the research on the design of a functional multi-criteria model of the stabilization model architecture of energy distribution networks based on a hydrogen energy buffer, taking into account the applicable use of hydrogen. The aim of the research was to identify the variables contributing to the stabilization of the operation of distribution networks. The method used to obtain this result was a systematic review of the literature using the technique of in-depth analysis of full-text articles and expert consultations. The concept of a functional model was described as a matrix in two dimensions in which the identified variables were embedded. The first dimension covers... [more]

The high penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) will burden the existing power delivery infrastructure if their charging and discharging are not adequately coordinated. Dynamic pricing is a special form of demand response that can encourage EV owners to participate in scheduling programs. Therefore, EV charging and discharging scheduling and its dynamic pricing model are important fields of study. Many researchers have focused on artificial intelligence-based EV charging demand forecasting and scheduling models and suggested that artificial intelligence techniques perform better than conventional optimization methods such as linear, exponential, and multinomial logit models. However, only a few research studies focused on EV discharging scheduling (i.e., vehicle-to-grid, V2G) because the concept of EV discharging electricity back to the power grid is relatively new and evolving. Therefore, a review of existing EV charging and discharging-related studies is needed to understand the rese... [more]

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the study of energy communities. This new definition refers to a community sharing energy resources of different types to meet its needs and reduce the associated costs. Optimization is one of the most widely used techniques for scheduling the operation of an energy community. In this study, we extensively reviewed the mathematical models used depending on the objectives and constraints considered. The models were also classified according to whether they address uncertainty and the inclusion of flexibility constraints. The main contribution of this study is the analysis of the most recent research on the mathematical formulation of optimization models for optimal scheduling of resources in energy communities. The results show that the most commonly used objectives are profit maximization and cost minimization. Additionally, in almost all cases, photovoltaic generation is one of the main energy sources. Electricity prices, renewable... [more]

With the development of microgrids (MGs), an energy management system (EMS) is required to ensure the stable and economically efficient operation of the MG system. In this paper, an intelligent EMS is proposed by exploiting the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) technique. DRL is employed as the effective method for handling the computation hardness of optimal scheduling of the charge/discharge of battery energy storage in the MG EMS. Since the optimal decision for charge/discharge of the battery depends on its state of charge given from the consecutive time steps, it demands a full-time horizon scheduling to obtain the optimum solution. This, however, increases the time complexity of the EMS and turns it into an NP-hard problem. By considering the energy storage system’s charging/discharging power as the control variable, the DRL agent is trained to investigate the best energy storage control method for both deterministic and stochastic weather scenarios. The efficiency of the strategy... [more]