Dear Colleagues,

We are inviting submissions to the Special Issue on “Microgrid and Smart Grid: Latest Advances and Prospects”.

Nowadays, the smart grid has been one of the key technologies used in solving energy and environmental problems. Microgrids are active components and the main control entities of smart grids. Their use is an important way to realize autonomous self-healing, interaction between supply and demand, and the marketability of distribution systems in the future. To regulate microgrids, which is a complex network system, the hierarchical control method is commonly used. The structure of hierarchical control can be divided into the bottom physical layer, the middle information layer, and the top service layer. It can also be divided into the primary control for the stability control of the local system, the secondary control for the frequency/voltage recovery, and the tertiary control for the power flow scheduling optimization after grid connection. Due to the existence of heterogeneous renewable energy sources, online optimization and real-time power balance control should be taken into account. Opportunity charging of electric vehicles (EVs) in a microgrid for power balancing, voltage/frequency controls, etc., can also be a good consideration. To smoothen power fluctuations, energy storage systems need optimal planning, designs, and controls of their centralized/distributed forms. Stable operation is very important for microgrids. Thus, small-signal and transient stability analysis of microgrids with a high penetration of grid-forming converter-based generations should be conducted. In addition, fault ride-through operations of power converters can enhance the reliability and resilience of microgrids. For interlinking microgrid clusters, high-power solid-state transformers are the control objectives.

In this Special Issue, regarding the topics of “Microgrids and Smart Grids”, submissions about cutting-edge theoretical and experimental studies, as well as recent advances detailed in comprehensive reviews, are welcome.

Dr. Yinghao Shan
Dr. Zilin Li
Prof. Dr. Adrian Ioinovici
Prof. Dr. Josep M. Guerrero
Dr. Jiefeng Hu
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. Applied Sciences 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.

• microgrid
• smart grid
• hierarchical control
• droop control (grid-forming converter)
• model predictive control
• cyber-physical system
• artificial intelligence algorithms
• economic optimization
• heterogeneous renewable energy generations
• fault ride-through operations
• centralized/distributed energy storage systems
• opportunity charging of EVs
• solid-state transformers
• stability analysis