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Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A: Sustainable Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 12213

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Alessandro Silvestri

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Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (DICEM), University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy
Interests: manufacturing systems; risk analysis; safety engineering; optimization methods; industrial engineering; scheduling; production; logistics; reliability analysis; lean manufacturing; quality management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Ziqiang Zhu

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Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK
Interests: design and control of permanent magnet machines and drive systems; transportation electrification; electric vehicles; domestic appliances; wind power generation
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Dr. Fabrizio Marignetti

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Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of Cassino and South Lazio, via G. Di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino FR, Italy
Interests: power electronic converters, machines and electric drives covering a wide range of power applied in various sustainable development systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Ahmed Masmoudi

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Research Laboratory on Renewable Energies and Electric Vehicles (RELEV) ENIS, University of Sfax, P.O. Box 1173, Sfax 3038, Tunisia
Interests: design of new topologies of ac machines and the implementation of advanced and efficient control strategies in drives and generators, applied to automotive as well as to renewable energy systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Up to the sixtieth, automotive manufacturers did not worry about the cost of fuel. They had never complained about air pollution and thought about the life cycle. Ease of operation with reduced maintenance costs meant everything back then. Times have changed. Nowadays, clean air mandates are driving the market to embrace green mobility strategies. At a first glance, it is quite commonly believed that these consist of the integration of new automotive technologies where the internal combustion engines are substituted by electric traction chains leading to electric vehicles (EVs). Nevertheless, such an approach to achieve the transition to green mobility would be far from being significant in terms of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions if the EVs would be charged from conventional grids incorporating power stations fed by fossil fuels. Hence, it comes clear that in order to be sustainable, mobility has to be imperatively allied to green energies in order to refuel EVs. Moreover, it should be underlined that EVs are commonly charged during the night in the house garages or in-building parking. This makes it necessary for the equipment of these latter with renewable energy sources which are used, among other things, for household purposes. In the industrial sector, the adoption of renewable energies and sustainable mobility means the integration of indoor and outdoor aspects, often involving the reengineering of infrastructures and processes.

The present Special Issue highlights the aspects characterizing renewable energies and sustainable mobility, infrastructures and processes.

Original research, technical surveys, and reviews, dealing with (but not limited to) the topics listed hereunder, are highly encouraged for submission:

EVs, HEVs, PHEVs, and MHEHs powertrain design and energy management strategies;
Electric drivetrain component design, sizing, optimization, modeling, identification, and control;
EVs and PHEVs charging, conductive/inductive charging, V2G strategies, battery performance assessment, fuel cells and hydrogen infrastructure, ultracapacitors, hybrid power supply;
Autonomous vehicles, intelligent guidance, localization and mapping, robust perception, safety assessment;
Wind energy assessment, wind generating systems design and control, grid interfacing, GCRs, onshore/offshore systems;
PV topologies optimization, grid interfacing, MPPT, water pumping, heating and desalination. RE3: marine energies, geothermal energy, biomass, smart grid, hybridization;
Green architecture, sustainable construction materials and process, integration of renewables, water supply;
Indoor environmental quality enhancement, ICT applied to green buildings, and smart homes;
Energy efficiency improvement of industrial plants and processes, decarbonization challenges, sustainable industry 4.0;
Greenhouse gas emission reduction policies, life cycle prediction and analysis, economic benefits, employment;
National and youth programs, public education, codes and standards, maintenance, recycling, and waste treatment.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to this Special Issue “Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development” of the Energies journal.

Prof. Alessandro Silvestri
Prof. Dr. Ziqiang Zhu
Dr. Fabrizio Marignetti
Prof. Dr. Ahmed Masmoudi
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. Energies 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 2600 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

electrified transportation
sustainable mobility
autonomous vehicles
renewable energies
charging infrastructures
fuel cells and hybrid powertrains
grid integration of EV
green buildings
ICT applied to green buildings
sustainable processes
energy efficiency improvement
greenhouse gas emission reduction policies
decarbonization challenges
sustainable industry 4.0
public education and interest

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4009 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Assessment of Different Powertrain Options for Heavy-Duty Vehicles and Energy Implications of Autonomous Driving

by Sebastian Sigle and Robert Hahn

Energies 2023, 16(18), 6512; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16186512 - 09 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1093

Abstract

Heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) are responsible for a significant amount of CO₂ emissions in the transport sector. The share of these vehicles is still increasing in the European Union (EU); nevertheless, rigorous CO₂ emission reduction schemes will apply in the near future. Different measures to decrease CO₂ emissions are being already discussed, e.g., the electrification of the powertrain. Additionally, the impact of autonomous driving on energy consumption is being investigated. The most common types are fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) and battery-only vehicles (BEVs). It is still unclear which type of powertrain will prevail in the future. Therefore, we developed a method to compare different powertrain options based on different scenarios in terms of primary energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, and fuel costs. We compared the results with the internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV). The model includes a model for the climatization of the driver’s cabin, which we used to investigate the impact of autonomous driving on energy consumption. It became clear that certain powertrains offer advantages for certain applications and that sensitivities exist with regard to primary energy and CO₂ emissions. Overall, it became clear that electrified powertrains could reduce the CO₂ emissions and the primary energy consumption of HDVs. Moreover, autonomous vehicles can save energy in most cases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development)

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15 pages, 4556 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seamless Start-Up of a Grid-Connected Photovoltaic System Using Module-Integrated Micro-Converters

by Leonardo Callegaro, Trung-Hieu Uong and Sara Deilami

Energies 2023, 16(17), 6181; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176181 - 25 Aug 2023

Viewed by 711

Abstract

In traditional grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) installations, when partial shadowing occurs between different PV modules in a string, bypass diodes short-circuit the output terminals of shadowed modules, and the whole system forgoes their potential energy production. This loss can be recovered if a dc-dc converter (micro-converter) is coupled to every PV module, and operated at the maximum power point (MPP). In this scenario, without communication links between the distributed micro-converter and the grid-tied inverter, a start-up procedure must be carefully designed to seamlessly allow the system to transfer PV power to the grid. During this phase, potentially damaging over-voltages and abrupt transients occurring at the micro-converters/inverter interface must be avoided. In this paper, the control algorithm of each micro-converter is enhanced to provide a smooth start-up operation so that PV units can safely start transferring power to the inverter and the grid. Improving from previous works, the proposed control technique is simple and removes the need for current sensors at the output of each micro-converter and at the inverter dc-link, with an economical advantage. Simulation results demonstrate the successful system start-up behavior, whilst confirming the benefits of the proposed control technique. First, the dc-link is energized from the rectified grid voltage. Then, the micro-converters raise the dc-link voltage so that the available PV power is transferred to the grid, with this sequence of operations not causing any abrupt electrical transient. The results also demonstrate the robust behavior of the PV system under non-uniform solar irradiation conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development)

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20 pages, 5340 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Proximal Policy Optimization for Energy Management of Electric Vehicles and PV Storage Units

by Monica Alonso, Hortensia Amaris, David Martin and Arturo de la Escalera

Energies 2023, 16(15), 5689; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16155689 - 29 Jul 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 839

Abstract

Connected autonomous electric vehicles (CAEVs) are essential actors in the decarbonization process of the transport sector and a key aspect of home energy management systems (HEMSs) along with PV units, CAEVs and battery energy storage systems. However, there are associated uncertainties which present new challenges to HEMSs, such as aleatory EV arrival and departure times, unknown EV battery states of charge at the connection time, and stochastic PV production due to weather and passing cloud conditions. The proposed HEMS is based on proximal policy optimization (PPO), which is a deep reinforcement learning algorithm suitable for continuous complex environments. The optimal solution for HEMS is a tradeoff between CAEV driver’s range anxiety, batteries degradation, and energy consumption, which is solved by means of incentives/penalties in the reinforcement learning formulation. The proposed PPO algorithm was compared to conventional methods such as business-as-usual (BAU) and value iteration (VI) solutions based on dynamic programming. Simulation results indicate that the proposed PPO’s performance showed a daily energy cost reduction of 54% and 27% compared to BAU and VI, respectively. Finally, the developed PPO algorithm is suitable for real-time operations due to its fast execution and good convergence to the optimal solution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development)

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17 pages, 2105 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimal Generation Capacity Allocation and Droop Control Design for Current Sharing in DC Microgrids

by Spyridon Chapaloglou, Babak Abdolmaleki and Elisabetta Tedeschi

Energies 2023, 16(12), 4583; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16124583 - 08 Jun 2023

Viewed by 864

Abstract

Considering the increasing amounts of renewable energy generation and energy storage required to meet ambitious environmental goals, it is clear that the next generation of power grids will be dominated by converter-connected devices. In addition, the increasing share of loads connected via power electronics and the general transition to non-synchronous grids with distributed generators make dc microgrids an attractive future alternative. However, achieving optimal utilization of distributed generators in such cases is a complex task, as the performance depends on both the grid and control design. In this paper, we consider such a case where the optimal utilization of distributed generators is achieved by optimal power sharing while taking into account the grid topology, the available generators, and the way they are controlled. For the latter, we consider a droop-based decentralized control scheme whose primary objective is to achieve voltage regulation in the allowable operating range. A novel mixed-integer optimization approach is proposed to identify the optimal converter size and location in the network so that the microgrid can operate safely and with optimal use of the available resources. Time-domain simulations are used to validate the proposed approach and demonstrate its robustness to uncertainty in generator availability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development)

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20 pages, 12376 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance Assessment of a Grid-Connected Two-Stage Bidirectional Converter for a Combined PV–Battery Energy Storage System

by Md. Mahamudul Hasan, Shahid Jaman, Thomas Geury and Omar Hegazy

Energies 2023, 16(11), 4486; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16114486 - 01 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1414

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive performance assessment of a two-stage power electronic (PE) converter for interfacing the grid of a lithium-ion battery energy storage system (Li-BESS) for building-integrated PV (BIPV) applications. A performance assessment of the control system was conducted for the two-stage PE interface with a common DC-link, which consisted of a bi-directional boost converter with a cascaded PI controller and an AC/DC converter with proportional-integral (PI) and proportional-resonant (PR) controllers. The assessment covered loss analysis and useful lifetime estimation for the 10 kW PE interface with a wide-bandgap SiC power MOSFET at different loads for both the charging and discharging modes of a 50 kWh lithium-ion battery system. Additionally, a performance comparison of various switching frequencies was performed. It was observed that the system was stable up to a switching frequency of 30 kHz, and that increasing the switching frequency improved the responsiveness of the converter by decreasing the settling time; however, there were diminishing returns at higher switching frequencies. To obtain a proper balance between responsiveness and lower loss, a switching frequency of 10 kHz was selected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development)

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23 pages, 13545 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Implementation and Evaluation of a Complex Pumped-Storage Hydropower Plant with Four Units, Common Penstock, and Surge Tank in a Real-Time Digital Simulator

by Hasan Akbari, Juan I. Pérez-Díaz, José-Ignacio Sarasúa and Robert Schürhuber

Energies 2023, 16(9), 3828; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16093828 - 29 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1107

Abstract

The demand for energy storage systems is rising together with the proportion of renewable energy sources (RES) in power systems. The highest capacity among the various energy storage systems in power systems is provided by pumped-storage hydropower (PSH). In this paper, the ability of the real-time digital simulator (RTDS), e.g., dSpace–SCALEXIO, to emulate a complex pumped-storage hydropower plant with four units, two common penstocks, a surge tank, and a long headrace tunnel is investigated. The RTDS is the smart brain of an advanced lab setup called power hardware in the loop (PHIL), which is an extremely safe and useful lab system for electrical power system research and testing hardware and methods under various conditions. In this research, the capability of an RTDS to emulate the behavior of a pumped-storage hydropower plant including four Francis pump-turbines, four short penstocks, two common penstocks, a surge tank, and a long headrace tunnel is evaluated. Francis pump-turbines are modelled based on the hill chart-based interpolation and waterways including penstocks and headrace tunnel are modelled based on the polynomial approximation of a hyperbolic function. Finally, the results from the RTDS are presented and discussed. According to the results of the paper, we confirm that the RTDS can accurately emulate the hydraulic, mechanical, and electrical transients of a pumped-storage hydropower plant with a complex configuration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development)

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24 pages, 12796 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wind Energy Supply Profiling and Offshore Potential in South Africa

by Stefan Karamanski and Gareth Erfort

Energies 2023, 16(9), 3668; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16093668 - 24 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2012

Abstract

South Africa’s energy network is under severe pressure due to low supply and overwhelming demand. With an increase in renewable energy providers, specifically wind energy, knowing how the supply can satisfy the electricity demand may relieve apprehensions. This research aims to provide insight into the wind energy supply of South Africa and question how well this supply meets the demand of South Africa. The methodology used in this work highlights the importance of access to public datasets to dispel misconceptions in the energy industry. Additionally, the work supports network planning and the arguments for increasing wind energy penetration on the South African grid. Wind profiles and the typical energy production of South African wind farms are compared to electricity demand. The geographical spacing of the operational wind farms is considered. It is observed that wind energy supply assists in the peak electricity hourly demand as well as seasonal peaks. Furthermore, South Africa’s coast is analysed to determine the offshore wind power potential, where shallow and deep waters are considered. It is observed that South Africa has a high potential for offshore wind, even after losses are applied. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development)

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28 pages, 7539 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Stage Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for Siting Electric Vehicle Charging Stations within and across Border Regions

by Oluwasola O. Ademulegun, Paul MacArtain, Bukola Oni and Neil J. Hewitt

Energies 2022, 15(24), 9396; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15249396 - 12 Dec 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3256

Abstract

Electric Vehicles (EVs) replace fossil fuel vehicles in effort towards having more sustainable transport systems. The battery of an EV is recharged at a charging point using electricity. While some recharging will be required at locations where vehicles are normally parked, other recharging could be necessary at strategic locations of vehicular travel. Certain locations are suitable for EV charging station deployment, others are not. A multi-stage decision analysis methodology for selecting suitable locations for installing EV charging station is presented. The multi-stage approach makes it possible to select critical criteria with respect to any defined objectives of the EV charging station and techno-physio-socio-economic factors without which the EV charging station could not be deployed or would not serve its designated purpose. In a case, the type of charging station is specified, and a purpose is defined: rapid EV charging stations intended for public use within and across border regions. Applied in siting real EV charging stations at optimal locations, stages in the methodology present additional techno-physio-socio-economic factors in deploying the type of EV charging stations at optimal locations and keep the EV charging stations operating within acceptable standards. Some locations were dropped at the critical analysis stage; others were dropped at the site-specific analysis stage and replacement sites were required in certain instances. Final locations included most optimal, less optimal, least optimal, and strategic or special need locations. The average distances between contiguous recharging locations were less than 60 miles. Using any specified separation standard, the number of additional EV charging stations required between EV charging stations were determinable with the Pool Box. The Overall Charging Station Availability quadrants suggest that the overall user experience could get worse as less-standardized additional EV charging stations are deployed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energies, Electrified Mobility, and Sustainable Infrastructures and Processes: Recent Research and Development)

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