Guest Editorial Special Section on Advances in Automation and Optimization for Sustainable Transportation and Energy Systems

This special section of the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) focuses on new models, methods, and technologies for energy efficiency and sustainability in transportation and energy systems. In this section, the focus is thus on articles considering sustainable transportation, such as electric vehicles (EVs), integrated with the smart grid requirements. As guest editors, we are very pleased to present the selected 12 papers, whose topics are specifically related to optimal planning of charging stations (CSs), sustainable transportation and mobility, EVs integration in smart grids, reliability, reduction of consumption, demand response and smart grid modeling, optimal scheduling, routing and charging of fleets of EVs, as well as smart parkin

Demand Side Management of Electric Vehicles in Smart Grids: A survey on strategies, challenges, modeling, and optimization

The shift of transportation technology from internal combustion engine (ICE) based vehicles to electricvehicles (EVs) in recent times due to their lower emissions, fuel costs, and greater efficiency hasbrought EV technology to the forefront of the electric power distribution systems due to theirability to interact with the grid through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) infrastructure. The greater adoptionof EVs presents an ideal use-case scenario of EVs acting as power dispatch, storage, and ancillaryservice-providing units. This EV aspect can be utilized more in the current smart grid (SG) scenarioby incorporating demand-side management (DSM) through EV integration. The integration of EVswith DSM techniques is hurdled with various issues and challenges addressed throughout thisliterature review. The various research conducted on EV-DSM programs has been surveyed. This reviewarticle focuses on the issues, solutions, and challenges, with suggestions on modeling the charginginfrastructure to suit DSM applications, and optimization aspects of EV-DSM are addressed separatelyto enhance the EV-DSM operation. Gaps in current research and possible research directions have beendiscussed extensively to present a comprehensive insight into the current status of DSM programsemployed with EV integration. This extensive review of EV-DSM will facilitate all the researchersto initiate research for superior and efficient energy management and EV scheduling strategies andmitigate the issues faced by system uncertainty modeling, variations, and constraints

Planning and flexible operation of storage systems in power grids: from transmission to distribution networks

The first part of the thesis has been devoted to the transmission planning with high penetration of renewable energy sources. Both stationary and transportable battery energy storage (BES, BEST) systems have been considered in the planning model, so to obtain the optimal set of BES, BEST and transmission lines that minimizes the total cost in a power network. First, a coordinated expansion planning model with fixed transportation cost for BEST devices has been presented; then, the model has been extended to a planning formulation with a distance-dependent transportation cost for the BEST units, and its tractability has been proved through a case study based on a 190-bus test system. The second part of this thesis is then devoted to the analysis of planning and management of renewable energy communities (RECs). Initially, the planning of photovoltaic and BES systems in a REC with an incentive-based remuneration scheme according to the Italian regulatory framework has been analysed, and two planning models, according to a single-stage, or a multi-stage approach, have been proposed in order to provide the optimal set of BES and PV systems allowing to achieve the minimum energy procurement cost in a given REC. Further, the second part of this thesis is devoted to the study of the day-ahead scheduling of resources in renewable energy communities, by considering two types of REC. The first one, which we will refer to as “cooperative community”, allows direct energy transactions between members of the REC; the second type of REC considered, which we shall refer to as “incentive-based”, does not allow direct transactions between members but includes economic revenues for the community shared energy, according to the Italian regulation framework. Moreover, dispatchable renewable energy generation has been considered by including producers equipped with biogas power plants in the community

Low-carbon Energy Transition and Planning for Smart Grids

With the growing concerns of climate change and energy crisis, the energy transition from fossil-based systems to a low-carbon society is an inevitable trend. Power system planning plays an essential role in the energy transition of the power sector to accommodate the integration of renewable energy and meet the goal of decreasing carbon emissions while maintaining the economical, secure, and reliable operations of power systems. In this thesis, a low-carbon energy transition framework and strategies are proposed for the future smart grid, which comprehensively consider the planning and operation of the electricity networks, the emission control strategies with the carbon response of the end-users, and carbon-related trading mechanisms. The planning approach considers the collaborative planning of different types of networks under the smart grid context. Transportation electrification is considered as a key segment in the energy transition of power systems, so the planning of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen refueling infrastructure for fuel cell electric vehicles is jointly solved with the electricity network expansion. The vulnerability assessment tools are proposed to evaluate the coupled networks towards extreme events. Based on the carbon footprint tracking technologies, emission control can be realized from both the generation side and the demand side. The operation of the low-carbon oriented power system is modeled in a combined energy and carbon market, which fully considers the carbon emission right trading and renewable energy certificates trading of the market participants. Several benchmark systems have been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed planning approach. Comparative studies to existing approaches in the literature, where applicable, have also been conducted. The simulation results verify the practical applicability of this method

Tropical or colonial?: a reception history of Jean Prouve\u27s prefabricated houses for Africa

Known for his industrialized furniture, Jean Prouvé is recognized as an innovative and idealistic designer. Yet it was the recent sale of one of three Maisons Tropicales prototype houses built for the French colonies in Africa, that he gained real notoriety. Made entirely of aluminum and steel, these flat pack houses were built light enough to be transported by airplane from Europe to remote locations in Africa to address the 1950’s housing shortage in the French colonies. To understand the evolution of these houses from their design to their current resettlement and restorations, this thesis investigates Prouvé’s background and influences that drove him to innovate. Furthermore, as a designer and factory owner, it illustrates how the business and economic challenges he faced played a significant role in directing his designs and manufacturing processes. Rather than being a colonial condescension as some have claimed, this thesis proposes that the initial designs for the Maisons Tropicales incorporated vernacular architectural characteristics, which indicate a desire, on the part of Prouvé, to combine European and African design elements. Finally the resettlements and restorations of the houses speak to those qualities, which are currently admired and those, which are overlooked. In doing so, they highlight the wide-ranging views that exist concerning colonialism and post-colonialism today

Energy Transition Driven Power System Planning and Emissions Trading towards Carbon Neutrality

Power systems today are facing increasing challenges from the uptake of inverter based resources (IBRs) aiming at zero carbon emission targets and sustainability through electrification of multiple major emission intensive sectors such as the transportation sector. This transition has driven the power grid into an era of new operating norms with decreasing system strength with respect to voltage stability together with the needs for frequency stability enhancement given the decommissioning of conventional synchronous machines including synchronous generators and synchronous condensers. The recent primary energy supply crisis with soring volatile prices for gas and coal adds further uncertainties to resilient energy supply which had resulted into doubled or even trebled spot market prices in many electricity markets worldwide. In Australia the national electricity market (NEM) even stopped normal operation into suspension under administered price cap of $300/MWh over 16-24 June 2023 because the operator was unable to ensure secure system operation under a combined impact from outage, high commodity prices, low renewable energy generation and high demand. Behind all the factors, system strength is a critical measure for stable system operations and resilience against system faults. While the weak system strength in many power grids require less renewable energy source grid integration, however, on the other hand, the overall emission reduction initiative means invariably more renewable IBRs will be grid connected, although the current industrial practices are either costly or inadequate to ensure system strength to achieve the IBR connection needs. Clearly, there is an urgent need to address the system strength problem for the power grid. At the same time, emission reduction through the future power grid requires a systems approach in order to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in achieving the targets. As such, in addition to solving the technical challenges of achieving emission reduction by more grid uptake of IBRs, mechanisms through emission trading and the energy market are equally important for the sector, especially considering the ultimate clean energy options based on green hydrogen trading. Research presented in the thesis covers comprehensive research findings in better understanding of the renewable energy IBR grid connection issues, nature and effective measures of system strength for IBR grid connection studies, operational as well as planning options considering system strength. The thesis also present research contributions exploring the future opportunities brought by the ultimate clean energy sources – green hydrogen. Green hydrogen serves as clean energy storage for midterm and longer term energy storage. It also achieves financial effectiveness by utilizing the renewable energy combined with volatile electricity market prices. This actually opens up new emission reduction trading opportunities beyond existing carbon emission trading through Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI). A green hydrogen trading framework has been developed to form a comprehensive framework in achieving a clean and stable future power grid

Comparison of alternative treatment systems for DOE mixed low-level waste

From 1993 to 1996, the Department of Energy, Environmental Management, Office of Science and Technology (OST), has sponsored a series of systems analyses to guide its future research and development (R&D) programs for the treatment of mixed low-level waste (MLLW) stored in the DOE complex. The two original studies were of 20 mature and innovative thermal systems. As a result of a technical review of these thermal system studies, a similar study of five innovative nonthermal systems was conducted in which unit operations are limited to temperatures less than 350{degrees}C to minimize volatilization of heavy metals and radionuclides, and de novo production of dioxins and furans in the offgas. Public involvement in the INTS study was established through a working group of 20 tribal and stakeholder representatives to provide input to the INTS studies and identify principles against which the systems should be designed and evaluated. Pre-conceptual designs were developed for all systems to treat the same waste input (2927 lbs/hr) in a single centralized facility operating 4032 hours per year for 20 years. This inventory consisted of a wide range of combustible and non-combustible materials such as paper, plastics, metals, concrete, soils, sludges, liquids, etc., contaminated with trace quantities of radioactive materials and RCRA regulated wastes. From this inventory, an average waste profile was developed for simulated treatment using ASPEN PLUS{copyright} for mass balance calculations. Seven representative thermal systems were selected for comparison with the five nonthermal systems. This report presents the comparisons against the TSWG principles, of total life cycle cost (TLCC), and of other system performance indicators such as energy requirements, reagent requirements, land use, final waste volume, aqueous and gaseous effluents, etc