Dear Colleagues,

The transition toward a net-zero energy system requires massive exploitation of renewable energy sources (RES). In addition, the energy market is opening up to the participation of citizens, in a single or aggregated form, to provide ancillary services. The intermittent nature of RES and the volatility of energy demand threaten the safety and reliability of the energy grid. In this context, the need to design energy systems where all kinds of flexible resources are optimized.

Flexibility resources, such as demand response, are enabled through various approaches (e.g., financial incentives, dynamic tariffs, time-of-use tariffs) to encourage customer participation in the control and operational management of energy systems. New strategies are needed to harness energy flexibility resources that will impact current energy system structures, developing them to reach the objective of a resilient and secure energy grid.

The contributions to this Special Issue will focus on the optimal design, operation, and management of energy systems based on DR programs. Although the development of new and advanced demand response programs and approaches is necessary to better take advantage of consumer flexibility, more work needs to be done on the effective design and management of energy systems. On the one hand, the integration of energy systems with their infrastructures and the increasing penetration of renewables, as well as energy sectors coupling, provide opportunities to realize the full potential of DR programs to improve system reliability and ancillary service delivery. On the other hand, the digitalization of energy systems and the use of information and communication technologies open new opportunities for the development of new energy systems designs and effective energy management systems. Contributions reporting real-world case studies are also welcome. All submitted manuscripts will be peer-reviewed in accordance with the quality standards of Designs. This Special Issue encourages the submission of original research and literature reviews manuscript. In the case of submission of an original research manuscript, the results must be new, replicable, and supported by a formal methodology, such as comprehensive mathematical models, algorithmic procedures, and numerical experiments. Results data presented as an illustration or figures should be provided (in the paper or as supplementary material) to ensure the replicability of the results.

Manuscript submissions in the areas mentioned as keywords below are highly encouraged.

Dr. Francesco Demetrio Minuto
Dr. Davide Papurello
Dr. Daniele Salvatore Schiera
Dr. Luca Barbierato
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. Designs 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 1600 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.

• demand response
• demand side management
• new technologies
• new algorithms
• new architectures
• energy system optimization
• energy system design
• decentralized energy systems
• renewable energy sources
• storage systems
• load shift
• model predictive control
• centralized and decentralize optimization control
• price signals
• technology penetration
• energy policy
• ledger technologies
• energy quality
• security
• reliability
• distribution network and transmission costs
• flexibility service
• ancillary services