INTRODUCTION

This special issue of the Journal of Energy is dedicated to the establishment of today the Department for Energy and Power Systems (ZVNE), University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in 1934. in that time the High Voltage Department as part of the Technical Faculty. For this reason, the history of the Department for Energy and Power Systems is presented in the introductory article, while the other articles are part of a broad scientific and professional work of the employees of the Department and some of the articles were created in wide cooperation with experts from the companies, that graduated from the Department. Journal of Energy special issue: present 17 papers selected for publication in Journal of Energy after having undergone the peer review process. We would like to thank the authors for their contributions and the reviewers who dedicated their valuable time in selecting and reviewing these papers. We hope this special issue will provide you valuable information of some achievements at Department of Energy and Power Systems, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. Short introduction of scientific and expert work of the Department for Energy and Power Systems (ZVNE): Besides educational energy related programmes for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND POWER SYSTEMS has been actively involved for many years in many scientific and expert studies. Studies on scientific projects include collaboration with industry, national institutions, electric utilities, and many foreign universities. The Department has developed valuable international cooperation with many research institutions around the world, either directly or through inter-university cooperation. The Department is the leading institution in the field of electrical power engineering in the region, it has a long lasting cooperation with the economic sector, and it is recognized for its scientific activities and a large number of published scientific papers in globally relevant journals, as well as numerous national and international scientific projects. Main Department areas of activities are: a) Power Engineering and Power Technologies, b) Energy, Environment, Energy Management and c) Nuclear Power Engineering In Power Systems Engineering the research is focused to development of both fundamental knowledge and applications of electrical power engineering. The research is generally directed to increasing the availability and the reliability of a power system with an emphasis on the adjustment to the open market environment. Specific goals include: improving models and methodologies for power system analysis, operation and control; development, production and application of models and methodologies for power systems planning, maintenance and development; application of soft-computing (artificial intelligence, meta-heuristics, etc.), information technologies (web-oriented technologies, geographic information systems, enterprise IT solutions, etc.) and operational research in improving processes of planning, development, exploitation and control of power systems; investigation on applications for coordinated control of power system devices and exploring the power system stability, security and economic operation; integration of intelligent devices and agents in energy management systems and distribution management systems equipment and software; advanced modelling of dynamics, disturbances and transient phenomena in transmission and distribution networks (in particular regarding distributed generation); advances in fault detection, restoration and outage management. The researches also cover high voltage engineering. At time of global changes in the energy sector, with emphasis on sustainable development, significant efforts are devoted to liberalization efforts, facilities revitalization, improved legislation and adoption of new standards. In area of Power Technologies, Energy and Environment, Energy Management the main framework for the research are: sustainable electricity generation on a liberalized market, modelling ETS and electricity market; energy security and climate change; power system optimization with emission trading; rational use of energy and energy savings; energy management in industry and buildings; energy conservation and energy auditing in industry and buildings. General objective of the research is to develop methodologies for quantitative assessment of the environmental impact of applicable energy technologies (electric power producing plants and their technology chains), as a base for estimating optimal long-term development strategy of the Croatian power system. Research work includes new strategies of energy sector and power system development; preparing medium and long-term electricity generation expansion plan for power system; comparison of energy, economic and environmental characteristics of different options for electric power generation; studies for rational use of energy and energy savings, assuming a centralized structure of the electricity market. Research work also includes renewable energy sources and its role in power sector, as well as electricity production considering cap on CO2 emissions. Research covers development of new models for power system generation optimization and planning under uncertainties on the open electricity market. The goal of that research is to create analytical and software tools which will enable a successful transition to liberalized electricity market and ensure healthy and efficient power system operation in compliance with environmental requirements. In the Nuclear Energy Field research cover nuclear physics reactor theory, nuclear power plants. fuel cycles and reactors materials and general objective of the research is to develop methodologies for reliable assessment of nuclear power plants operational safety. In the nuclear energy field the specific analysis cover calculations of transients and consequences of potential accidents in NPP Krško. In the field of safety analyses of nuclear power plants the research activities are oriented to the mathematical modelling of nuclear power plant systems and components

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